Once again I found a highly successful treat to share with my friends at Hillcrest Thrift Shop. They don't mind being my "test kitchen" at all, but I am always pleased when I chose one they all really like.
This recipe from Krista Rodes from Port Republic, VA was in my Mennonite Recipes from the Shenandoah Valley cookbook.
The recipe called for a 14 - ounce package of caramels. Several months ago I bought a package of Kraft's Caramel Bites. I thought they would be perfect to try in a recipe instead of buying the individually wrapped caramels most recipes call for. (They are a pain to unwrap.) Even though the bag was smaller (11 - ounces) I thought it might work - and - it did. I just reduced the milk in the recipe. The edges of the bars were hard (the melted caramels always get hard when they touch the sides of the pan). I just cut the edges away. It worked out fine.
I used brown sugar/stevia blend for the brown sugar and planned to used a sugar/stevia blend for the sugar but didn't have enough to reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe.
CHOCOLATE CARAMEL BARS
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar (I used 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar blend)
1/2 cup salad dressing (Miracle Whip variety) (I used reduced fat salad dressing.)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups flour
1 (14 - ounce) pkg. caramels (I used one 11 - ounce bag of caramel bits)
1/4 cup milk (I used 3 tablespoons of milk since I was only using 11 - ounces of caramels.)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray or grease a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan.
Beat together eggs, sugars, salad dressing, and vanilla.
Add baking soda and flour. Mix well.
Set aside 1 cup of batter.
Spread rest of batter in pan. (Best way to do this is to drop spoonfuls around the bottom of the pan and then spread them together.)
Bake for 12 - 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. (12 minutes was enough for mine.) Cool 10 minutes
Gather together the caramel and milk in a saucepan while it is baking.
Start melting the caramels when you take the it out of the oven to cool. (It took me about 10 minutes for the caramel bits to melt.)
Stir the mixture until the caramels melt and mixture is smooth.
Drizzle over the baked crust. (I tried to keep it from the edges because I knew it bake hard against the edges, but it ran over the edges anyway.)
Sprinkle with chocolate chips and pecans.
Spoon reserved batter by teaspoons over top.
Bake another 12 - 15 minutes more, or until lightly brown. (I did bake mine 15 minutes.)
Cool on wire rack.
Cut into bars and serve.
This recipe from Krista Rodes from Port Republic, VA was in my Mennonite Recipes from the Shenandoah Valley cookbook.
The recipe called for a 14 - ounce package of caramels. Several months ago I bought a package of Kraft's Caramel Bites. I thought they would be perfect to try in a recipe instead of buying the individually wrapped caramels most recipes call for. (They are a pain to unwrap.) Even though the bag was smaller (11 - ounces) I thought it might work - and - it did. I just reduced the milk in the recipe. The edges of the bars were hard (the melted caramels always get hard when they touch the sides of the pan). I just cut the edges away. It worked out fine.
I used brown sugar/stevia blend for the brown sugar and planned to used a sugar/stevia blend for the sugar but didn't have enough to reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe.
CHOCOLATE CARAMEL BARS
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar (I used 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar blend)
1/2 cup salad dressing (Miracle Whip variety) (I used reduced fat salad dressing.)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups flour
1 (14 - ounce) pkg. caramels (I used one 11 - ounce bag of caramel bits)
1/4 cup milk (I used 3 tablespoons of milk since I was only using 11 - ounces of caramels.)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray or grease a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan.
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