Dulce de Leche Chocolate Caramel Cookie Bars

These dulce de leche bar cookies are decadent, rich, and irresistible. The bottom layer is made with graham cracker crumbs, giving the cookie a nice crispy base. The cookie crumb layer is sprinkled with coconut, chocolate chips, and candied nuts, then topped with a creamy filling made with delicious caramel dulce de leche. The bars are topped with more candied nuts and chocolate chips right when they come out of the oven.

Refrigerate these bars overnight (or at least for 3-4 hours) before cutting them, if you want neat squares. Then serve them at room temperature so that they're gooey and great!

Ingredients:

•7 ounces of cookies (graham crackers or similar)

•5 tablespoons butter, melted

•4 tablespoons brown sugar

•Pinch of salt

•1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

•1/3 cup coconut

•1 cup candied walnuts or pecans (see recipe below)

•1 can condensed milk

•3/4 cup dulce de leche (purchased or homemade)

•3 ounces cream cheese

•2 egg yolks

•1 teaspoon vanilla

•Pinch of salt

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Spray a 9 inch by 9 inch square baking pan lightly with cooking spray. Line the pan with two pieces of aluminum foil, letting the foil liner hang over the edges of the pan. Spray the foil lightly with cooking spray.

3. Process the cookies in a food processor until they are very fine crumbs. Stir the melted butter, brown sugar, and pinch of salt into the crumbs until evenly mixed.

4. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the foil-lined pan, making a smooth layer.

5. Bake the crumbs for about 15 minutes, until golden brown.

6. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

7. While the crust is baking, prepare the candied nuts according to the recipe, using 1 cup of walnuts or pecans. Let cool and coarsely chop.

8. In a medium bowl, whisk together the condensed milk, dulce de leche, cream cheese, vanilla, egg yolks, and pinch of salt.

9. Sprinkle the cookie crust with the coconut, 1/2 the candied nuts, and 1/2 of the chocolate chips.

10. Pour the condensed milk mixture over the crust.

11. Return pan to the oven and bake for about 25 minutes more, or until filling is set.

12. Cool for 5 minutes, then sprinkle with the remaining nuts and chocolate chips. Cool completely, and refrigerate overnight if possible before cutting into squares. Remove bars from pan by lifting them out with the aluminum foil liner to make cutting easier.

Makes 16 bars.

Note: The cream cheese is whisked together with the condensed milk and dulce de leche, to add extra creaminess and tang, although the recipe would also work fine without it. I hope that this correction helps.

Recipe Source: http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/desserts/r/dulcebars.htm

Mani Confitados - Candied Peanuts

This recipes works great with any kind of nut, and you can make them in just a few minutes. They can be tossed with salads or sprinkled over ice cream, cupcakes, and sweet breads like cinnamon rolls.

Ingredients:

•1/3 cup sugar

•2 tablespoons water

•Pinch of salt

•1 cup nuts, whole or chopped

•1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Preparation:

1. Place sugar, water, and salt in saucepan and bring to a boil on medium heat.

2. Add the nuts and cook, stirring constantly.

3. As the water evaporates, the sugar will turn granular in appearance. Keep stirring until sugar starts to melt and caramelize.

4. Once the sugar has melted and you can see a light brown caramel color on the bottom of the pan, stir in the vanilla, and pour the nuts onto a silpat or piece of parchment paper.

5. Spread and separate the nuts with a wooden spoon, and let cool.

Tip: To make chocolate-dipped candy clusters, drop the candied nuts by teaspoonfuls onto the silpat while they are still hot. Let cool, and dip the clusters in melted chocolate.

Recipe Source: http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/snacksstreetfood/r/palmsalas.htm