Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I made these last week when Yusif and Naven came over to barbeque with us. 

Wow, I can't believe it's almost been a year since I first made these in brownie form. 

I really like the sea salt in these, of course, because it's paired with caramel! 

Layered desserts are always my favorite to make.

I used softened butter instead of melting it.

Make the cookies and spread half onto the bottom of a buttered 9x9 dish. I used a bit more than 2 cups of chocolate chips. Extra chocolate chips is always a good thing when making regular cookies. But actually, don't do that with these bars. There is plenty of gooey-ness going on with the caramel that I actually over did it. Please stick to a 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips!

These were my favorite candies as a kid. The recipe says to use 10 ounces caramel candy squares, which has to be a typo. I used alittle under 2 ounces (50 candies). I would say to use 45 candies for a better cookie to caramel ratio.  

Melt with 3 tablespoons heavy cream and

spread on top of the cookie layer and then sprinkle with sea salt.

Add the top layer of cookie and again sprinkle with sea salt.

Look at all that caramel!

Bake until golden brown and allow to cool. Don't even try to cut into it right now! It will be a huge mess! Allow me to quote from the last time I made these (with brownies),  

"When they came out of the oven we thought they were still under baked because after cooling for 10 minutes, they were still gooey, so we put it back in the oven. When they came out again, they were still runny, and I couldn't cut a piece without it squishing all over the place. When they were completely cooled, we could see they were baked. It was just that gooey caramel and the chocolate chips that were hot and messy."

So this recipe needs to cool before you can handle and serve them. But luckily, you can put them in the fridge for 30 minutes to speed the process up and they come out just fine.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Adapted from: Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients
2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips
10 ounces caramel candy squares, unwrapped
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Fleur de sel (or other sea salt), for sprinkling over caramel and bars

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch square pan; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

3. Using an electric mixer, mix together the melted butter and sugars on medium speed until combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix on low, just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

4. In a medium microwave-safe bowl, combine the caramels and heavy cream. Microwave on high until the caramels are melted, stirring every 20 seconds. This will take about 2 minutes.

5. Press half of the cookie dough into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. Pour the hot caramel over the dough cookie dough and spread into an even layer, leaving some empty space around the edges. Sprinkle the caramel with the sea salt. Drop the remaining cookie dough in spoonfuls over the caramel and gently spread the dough with a spatula until the caramel is covered. Sprinkle the bars with additional sea salt.

6. Bake the cookie bars for 30 minutes, or until the top of the bars are light golden brown and the edges start to pull away from the pan. Completely cool the bars on a wire rack to room temperature, then refrigerate for about 30 minutes to allow the caramel layer to set. Cut into squares and serve. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.