Chuck's Copy Cat Salted Caramel & Chocolate Shortbread Cookie Bars

A few weeks months I was at one of my favorite stores, Chuck's Produce in Vancouver, to doing some grocery shopping. If you live in or near Vancouver, Washington and haven't been to Chuck's before...I highly recommend it.  They have brick oven pizza made from scratch, an antipasto and olive bar, delicious sandwiches (we're not talking Subway here folks!), Italian gelato and some of the most tasty soups I have ever had.

        

The bakery is incredible as well with some of the most tempting treats I have ever laid eyes on! The same goes for the produce and meat department....in a nutshell it is a fantastic grocery store! Think Whole Foods or New Season's, but way cheaper and much better quality!

When cruising through the bakery I spied the salted caramel chocolate shortbread cookie bars. You either love or hate shortbread, but I am in the camp of those who definitely love it. Sweet, salty, and chewy...so good! From beginning to end this recipes takes about about one hour and a half to make, but it was well worth it! I hope you enjoy these gooey caramel and chocolate  shortbread cookie bars as much as we do!

Shortbread:

2 cups butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Stir in vanilla; add flour and mix well.

3. Line an 8"x8" or a 2 quart baking dish with parchment paper. 

4.Roll dough into a rough ball and place into baking dish. Using your hands, press dough evenly into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until set. Shortbread is overcooked if it turns light brown. 

5. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Begin with topping. 

Chocolate Caramel Fudge Topping:

Ingredients:

3 cups milk chocolate chips

1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk

30 caramels, unwrapped

Fleur de sel (sea salt) for sprinkling

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish with parchment paper lighted coated with non-stick spray.

 

Directions:

1. Combine the milk chocolate, sweetened condense milk, and caramels in a non-stick pan.

2. Heat on low and stir until everything has melted together. This will take about 20 minutes. Stir every minute for the first 10 minutes and then constantly for the last 10.

 

3. Pour mixture directly over the shortbread cookie crust. 

4. Sprinkle with fleur de sel (sea salt).

 

5. Allow to completely cool before cutting into squares. When cooled, using the edges of the parchment paper, lift the uncut bars out of the pan as this will make scoring and cutting so much easier. Score your pieces before you cut them. Make sure to use a very sharp knife when cutting the squares. It will help prevent the crust from crumbling. Wiping off your knife and running through hot water will also help.