Cashew Caramel Cracker Bars

Sara Perry | Holiday Baking | Chronicle Books, 2005 | Makes 35 to 40 bars

With their flaky crust, smooth caramel filling, and deep chocolate glaze speckled with toasted cashews, these scrumptious cashew cookies are rich, habit-forming, and perfect for gift giving. (In Ghana at Christmastime, the cashew tree grows freely, and in courtyards throughout the country, it’s often decorated like a Christmas tree.)

The secret to the flaky crust? It’s not complicated pie dough, layers of transparent phyllo, or something even more exotic. No, this crust is made from simple supermarket soda crackers. The crackers take on a taste and appearance that would impress the most discerning cookie connoisseur. (The secret is revealed when the baker inverts the cookies to cut them.)—Sara Perry

Note: This recipe requires a 10-by-15-inch jelly roll pan.

convert Ingredients
1 1/4 cups butter, melted, divided
35 Nabisco Premium Saltine crackers
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
One 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
One 12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup toasted unsalted cashews, chopped medium coarse

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Method
1. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). To make the cookies easy to remove, line a 10-by-15-inch jelly roll pan with a sheet of foil, shiny side up, leaving a few inches hanging over the longer edges. Drizzle 1/4 cup melted butter onto the foil-lined pan, and brush to cover the bottom of the pan. Line the pan with the crackers (don’t worry if there are small gaps).

2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the remaining 1 cup butter and the brown sugar and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, until the mixture forms a thick syrup (248°F/120°C) on a candy thermometer). Remove from the heat and slowly whisk in the condensed milk until blended. Pour the mixture over the crackers, making sure all the crackers are covered.

3. Bake for 10 minutes. The top will be bubbly and brown. Remove from the oven, scatter the chocolate chips over the topping, and allow them to melt for 5 minutes. Using the back of a spoon or an offset spatula, spread the chocolate over the surface and sprinkle with the nuts. Using your fingers or the back of a spoon, press the nuts into the chocolate. Freeze until the chocolate sets, about 30 minutes.

4. Remove from the freezer and invert the pan onto a clean surface (don’t worry if you lose some nuts from the surface; they’ll be great for topping an ice cream sundae or for adding to cookie dough). Carefully peel back the foil to reveal the soda-cracker underside of the cookies. Using a sharp knife, cut the cookies along the cracker outlines. This is easier to do when the cookies have begun to thaw slightly. Invert and cut the squares into quarters for bite-size pieces or thirds for finger-size pieces.

Variation: For Crunchy Nut Caramel Bars, follow the main recipe, substituting your favorite toasted nuts, such as hazelnuts, almonds, peanuts, or walnuts.

Recipe © 2005 by Sara Perry. Photo © 2005 Leigh Beisch. All rights reserved.
© 2009 Leite’s Culinaria, Inc. All rights reserved. Terms of use.