Caramel Squares

I accomplished a big milestone today: as of this morning, I've officially lost the 15 pounds I desperately wanted/needed to since Christmas.  And it only took 5 months.  Ha.  (Baby steps, people.)  I've also decided to make a bold move this month: in order to ATTEMPT to lose another 5 or so pounds before our beach vacations in June, I'm...going to try to give up alcohol until the end of May.  Or at least cut way back.  I know - you can't believe it and neither can I.  But choosing between carbs, sweets, or booze, I chose stupidly choose this.  It might last 2 days but God willing I can DO IT!  Starting after Istanbul.

So how am I celebrating my 15 pound weight loss and my decision to give up booze?  By making Caramel Squares!  I've seen versions of these pups floating around Pinterest but never really experienced their greatness until I moved to Dublin.  Now they're everywhere, in coffee shops and bakeries and cafes, and after trying one when we moved here, I've never looked back.  They're like...my favorite thing here.  While I've never made them for fear of bingeing on the entire tray as I'm prone to do, I've decided to play with fire, make them, and get them the hell out of the house to Drew's office before any real damage is done.

These heavenly creations consist of three layers of happiness: shortbread, thick gooey caramel, and a chocolately top layer.  They're also called Caramel Slices and Millionaire Bars.

Let's begin.  The cast of super healthy characters: heavy cream, sugar, vanilla extract, milk chocolate, flour, butter, and what turned out to be unsuccessful caramel sauce (so I made it myself with sugar, water, and cream).

Start out with two softened sticks of butter...

...and add a cup of sugar.

Cream those together and then add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.  Mix it all up. 

Then add 2 cups of all purpose flour and combine.  

And try not to eat it when it's fully mixed.

Prep a 9x13 inch baking dish lined with foil with some cooking spray.

And press the dough in an even layer into the bottom of the dish.

Prick the dough with a fork all over it to keep the bubbles out and what not.

Bake for about 20 minutes at 350°F, until the shortbread is golden brown and yummy looking.

As I mentioned, I bought some Carnation Brand "Caramel Sauce" that was supposed to be just like the real deal, but it so wasn't.  Big waste.  So I had to make the caramel myself.  It was a little labor intensive and scary but I'm actually glad I did it this way because it was pretty damn good.

Start by combining 1/4 cup of water with 1 cup of granulated sugar over medium heat.  Stir it up until the sugar dissolves into the water.

When that's done, turn the heat up to HIGH and bring it up to a boil, but don't stir it.

You'll watch it bubble up, swirling the sauce pan around (and brushing down the sides if you need to), until it starts to turn light brown/amber in color after about 5 minutes.  Watch it when this happens because you don't want it to get too dark and burn!

Meanwhile, measure 1/4 cup of heavy cream....

...take the bubbling caramel off the heat, and pour in the heavy cream.  It'll bubble up like crazy and you'll think you're starting a fire or something bad but just wait!  It's all part of the process.

Stir it up.  And stir a tablespoon or two of butter in there too.  (Hey, the recipe called for it.)

Let it cool slightly, and then pour it on top of your cooled shortbread layer.

Spread it out and put it in the fridge to firm up!

I also sprinkled a very thin layer of sea salt over the caramel because....there's nothing better.  Let's be real.  

While THAT'S cooling, time for the chocolate layer!  I bought a couple bars of good old fashioned Irish milk chocolate and put them in the microwave in 30 second increments to melt.

And after the caramel has firmed up, just pour that chocolate all over the caramel and smooth it out!

Ohhh baby yeah.  Then put that in the fridge to firm up again for about 30 minutes.

After that, there's one final test of patience: take them out of the fridge, let them sit at room temp for another 5-10, and THEN you can cut them.  (It prevents the shortbread from crumbling as much.)

At this point, it was night and I didn't have any natural light in my kitchen anymore.  But they still look damn good if I do say so myself, and they tasted even better.

Pretty darn rich but pretty darn good.

I managed to get a couple out of the pan before we locked them up for Drew's trip to the office today, and evidently his coworkers really liked them too.  Success!!

I'll make these when I get back and you can all see how delicious this Irish/UK staple truly is. 

We're off to Istanbul tomorrow, and providing we don't get tear gassed and water bombed at the protests going on right now (awesome), I'll be back on Monday with some pics.  Cheers!