This week’s TWD was chosen by Whitney of What’s Left on the Table?: caramel crunch bars! To be honest, I’ve flipped through Dorie’s book many, many times, but these bars never captured my attention the way some of her other photos do. That said, they sounded delicious when I read the recipe and I was excited to try them!
Best part about these bars? Definitely how quickly they can be put together and thrown in the oven. That said, the dough is a bit tricky to spread in the bottom of the pan because it’s quite sticky. I stuck my pan in the fridge for a few minutes and that did the trick. I loved how easy it was to spread the chocolate over the base after melting it briefly in the oven. I’ve never used that technique before but I can definitely see myself using it on bar cookies in the future.
Unfortunately, these just weren’t one of my favorite recipes from Dorie. I used bittersweet chocolate and I’m sure that was a big part of the problem. I don’t typically enjoy bittersweet chocolate and I found that the chocolate overwhelmed the other flavors for me. No worries, though – my mom will be taking them into work tomorrow and I have no doubt that they’ll disappear quickly.
Thanks to Whitney for her pick this week! You can find the recipe for these bars on her blog. This recipe was a favorite of many of the TWD bakers so it’s definitely worth a shot! Head over to TWD to check out the other bakers’ bars.
Lemon Bars
Glazed Grapefruit Cake
Orange Sherbet
Meyer Lemon Pound Cake
try these will semisweet chocolate instead! i promise you will like them better. not my fav recipe for TWD either but i still loved them! your smores cupcakes look great too!
Too bad you didn’t like them. I really liked them though I’m a huge fan of bittersweet chocolate. Great pictures!
These look wonderful. They are equally good with semi-sweet chocolate.
Too bad you didn’t like them. Your crunch bars do look perfectly delicious though.
your bars look great – i acutally think that this is one of my favourite Dorie recipes
They were really quick to put together – totally together. And yours look totally together, as in cool and well dressed. (does that make sense)
not my fave, either, so i am glad I wasn’t the only one brave enough to admit it! yours do look great though, so nice and thick!
I’m sorry they weren’t great, they sure look amazing!
Sorry to hear that this wasn’t to your taste… hopefully, you’ll give it one more try with a different chocolate.
BTW, love the look of your blog!
I hope your mom’s coworkers liked them! These weren’t my favorite either, but I feel like if I try them again with some changes, they’ll suit me fine. Yours do look delicious.
yea, i think a lot of the flavor came from the chocolate. i’m sure it would work well with milk choc! they look great 🙂
What a beautiful result. I am sure your mother’s coworkers will be thrilled to eat them for you.
Too bad you didn’t really like them, you make them look so good!
Glad your mom is able to unload them from you! Sorry you weren’t a fan, but they really look gorgeous!
So sorry that you didn’t love these. They look terrific, anyway. I used milk chocolate in mine and didn’t find it overwhelming at all. I can see how the bittersweet might “take over”.
It looks like they turned out great and you put them to good use anyway! They look beautiful!!
These look fantastic! I found they way too sweet for me, but like your mom…co-workers ate them up!
I think your bars look delish! Sorry they weren’t as tasty as you hoped. Even though I am a bittersweet chocolate fan, I can see how it might be a bit much if you’re not!
I was worried about too much bittersweet chocolate, too, so I did part bittersweet and part milk chocolate. It seemed to work pretty well. Even if they weren’t your favorite, your bars look terrific!
I was also beginning to think I was the only one who didn’t “adore” these! That said, I’m sure I would have loved it if mine looked as crunchy as yours, I’m sure they were delicious. 🙂
Your Mom brought them to work last week and I loved them! I eat everything you make that she brings in.
I wonder if my kids will like this recipe.
Myra – UNICOM
I was surprised to read anything less-than-great about these bars. I made them this weekend for company and everyone loved them! But perhaps it’s because I didn’t have bittersweet chocolate and used semisweet instead? Whatever the reason, they were a hit.