Chocolate Caramel Layered Blondies with salty cracker, brown-butter, shortbread crust

Oh, the flavor layers of this bar. Making dreams come true. First the texture: chewy, gooey, crispy edged, blondie with melty chocolate. The crust is a brown butter, salty, sweet shortbread. And oozing from the middle is an easy peasy marshmallow, caramel layer. If this sounds like something you would eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, you are in good company. You will think you can stop yourself from cutting another piece, but…really, can you?

Let’s break down the components. The shortbread needs some prep work with browning and then re-firming the butter. However, the recipe makes enough for TWO crusts for a 9 x 13 baking dish, and you can leave one wrapped in the fridge, unbaked, for the sad day when you realize *someone* has eaten all of the blondies of batch number 1. This shortbread recipe is inspired by one in Mindy Segal’s book, Cookie Love, which is filled with her highly creative spins on all kinds of cookies and bars. Her original recipe calls for graham crackers to be used in the dough, but for these bars I chose to use Flipsides crackers which are part buttery cracker and part pretzel and I thought they would add a nice dimension to the brown butter dough, as well as, hold up well to a very sweet caramel layer.  After the dough is chilled, it is pressed in to the bottom of the pan and ready to go.

The caramel and marshmallow layer is kept simple by making a cheater caramel and using store bought fluff! Yes, homemade caramel is amazing, but, if I don’t feel like spending time with my candy thermometer, this is fast and delicious and I feel like I’ve earned it with the extra efforts of the shortbread and blondie layers. If you would like to make it from scratch, feel free to sub that in. I used 16 oz. of Kraft meltable caramels mixed with some heavy cream and while it was warm, stirred in some fluff. Then, I poured it over the pressed in crust and, naturally, sprinkled it with Fleur de Sel and some chocolate chips.

The blondie layer is truly a treat all on its own…but adding the other layers just elevates its status to mandatory dessert level. It’s filled with vanilla, brown sugar and chocolate two ways. I like to chop up a big dark chocolate bar, around 70% cocoa, and then add chips too for a variety of sizes and puddles. It’s honestly so good with the Hershey’s special dark bars…doesn’t even have to be fancy chocolate! It calls for one whole egg plus a yolk and a tablespoon of arrowroot starch, which I have been playing around with, but if you don’t want to, it can be omitted. I think the arrowroot contributes to a crackly, textured top surface, like the papery brownie top, and I personally love it. <Bob’s Red Mill> makes it and is easy to find. It’s generally used in gluten free baking as a thickening agent.  I have also added cashew flour to the blondie batter. I enjoy incorporating nut flours for the moisture and density they offer. Cashew flour is similar to almond flour and pairs well with sweet baked goods.  This blondie comes together in one pot and gets poured on as the final layer before baking.

After baking, the layers do need time to cool and set. *BUT, if you would like to experience the delicious goo of liquid hot magma, (of course you do), allow to cool in the dish for 20 minutes or so and then dig your spoon in. The lack of taste buds for the remainder of the day will be a small sacrifice, post burn. Sometimes, you just need that molten, chocolate bite, or 3….again, you earned it.

Ingredients:

Salty cracker shortbread:

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature

9.2 oz box of Town House Flipside original crackers, ground into sandy crumbs. Then measure out 1 3/4 cups of crumbs to use for dough

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs at room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups of all purpose flour

Caramel/ marshmallow fluff layer:

16 oz of Kraft caramel bits

1/4 cup of heavy cream

Half of 7 oz container of Jet-Puffed marshmallow creme…or to taste (or optional)

Fleur de sel salt flakes

Scattering handful of chocolate chips

Blondie layer:

1/2 cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 large egg yolk, at room temperature

2 tablespoons of vanilla extract

1/4 cashew flour (optional or sub with equal amount AP flour or almond flour)

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tbs arrowroot powder

4.5 ounces chopped dark chocolate bar

2.5 ounces dark chocolate chips or preference

Method:

To make the shortbread: add the 10 ounces of softened butter to a saucepan and cook on medium heat, gently swirling it around as it melts. Allow the butter to heat up and foam and turn golden brown. Don’t walk away! Once you smell the nutty aroma, reduce heat and stir with a wooden spoon to scoop up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan, and to make sure butter doesn’t overcook. Pour the butter into a heatproof bowl or dish and place in the freezer. After 20 minutes, check the butter and stir up the bits. Continue to freeze and stir, monitoring the progress, until it is back to the consistency of cool but firm butter. Then scrape it into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment.

While the butter is chilling, grind up the cracker crumbs in a food processor. You can also pour the crackers into a zip top bag and crush by hand, but you want the crumbs to be fine like sand. Measure out 1 3/4 cups of crumbs and set aside.

Mix the browned butter in the stand mixer for 30 seconds to evenly distribute the brown bits and smooth it out. Add the sugar, with the mixer on low, and then gradually increase to medium high to cream the butter and sugar, stopping occasionally to scrape the bowl down on the sides and bottom. Begin to add the eggs, one at a time, beating for a full minute in between each egg, then add the vanilla, and beat for another minute. Scrape the bowl all around. Mix for another 30 seconds until batter looks incorporated and is coming together.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and cracker crumbs. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture until just combined, about one minute. To avoid overmixing, remove the bowl from the mixer and, using a rubber spatula, or your hands, bring the dough together into a smooth ball. Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in a sheet of plastic wrap. Gently pat the dough into a rectangle and refrigerate until firm. This is a great step to do ahead of your baking day because, allowing the dough to chill overnight, really develops the flavor. Allow the dough to sit at room temperature while you preheat the oven, just so it’s soft enough to press into your baking dish. You will only use ONE dough rectangle for this recipe! Be sure to keep the second rectangle refrigerated and tightly wrapped until you are ready to use.

Prepare the caramel/ marshmallow layer: In a heavy, medium sized saucepan, melt 16 ounces of caramels, over medium heat, and stir in the heavy cream. Be careful not to overheat! We don’t want to simmer the cream, just heat enough to blend well. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until caramel is smooth and creamy. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes or so. Spoon the marshmallow creme into the caramel and blend to your liking.

Grease a 9x13 glass baking dish or cake pan with butter or coconut oil. Line with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Gently tear chunks of shortbread off and scatter them around the bottom of the baking dish. Use your fingertips to press the shortbread down around the pan in an even layer, ensuring the corners and sides are equal. If you have a pastry roller you could use that to smooth out this layer or use the bottom of a measuring cup.

After bottom layer is in place, pour the caramel layer over top of it. Use an offset spatula to spread it evenly. Sprinkle the top with the fleur de sel salt, to taste, and scatter chocolate chips across it as well. Set aside while you prepare the blondie layer.

Blondie layer: you can wash and reuse your saucepan from the caramel, or just toss the 4 ounces, one stick, of butter right in there and remelt on medium heat, stirring in any leftover caramel from the sides of the pan. It’s all going in the same baking dish! Fully melt the butter and then remove from the heat. Stir in the sugar and allow the mixture to cool for 5 minutes.

While it’s cooling, mix the flour, cashew flour, salt, arrowroot, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl and whisk well.

Add the whole egg, yolk and vanilla to the cooled butter/sugar mixture and stir to fully combine so that there are no streaks of yellow. Switching to a spatula, add the flour mixture and gently stir to combine. Make sure to scrape up the bottom and sides and then fold in all of the chocolate.

Pour the blondie batter over the caramel layer in your prepared baking dish. Spread it evenly and use a butter knife to break up any chocolate clumps so that you have an even distribution of chocolate across the batter.

Bake for 30 minutes and check the middle. A little jiggle is ok in the very center, but if it is still super jiggly, return to the oven for 5-7 minutes more. Remember the goal is fudgy, so we don’t want it to bake until it’s too firm. It will firm up in the fridge while cooling off. Once bars are removed from the oven, allow to cool for approximately 30 minutes on the counter and then chill in the fridge for an hour in order to cleanly slice into bars. See above note * about eating molten chocolate bars if you absolutely cannot wait. No judgement.

Bars will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days, wrapped with plastic, (and unsliced is better) or you may store in fridge for longer. You can also wrap individual bars in plastic and store in a zip top bag in the freezer for a month. Thaw on counter before eating!