Luckily it is time for another month of Two Sweetie Pies! Another month of 2 Sweetie Pies with That Skinny Chick Can Bake means another wonderful dessert! Always a success when you bake from Liz’s blog! Each month we bake up a recipe from each other and keep it a secret until reveal day! Super fun! Make sure you pop over to visit Liz and see which Hugs & Cookies recipe she chose this month.
This month I went with Liz’s Caramel Espresso Bars. I loved the layered look of these bars, especially the chocolate ganache! If you are not a fan of espresso you can leave it out and still have an incredible bar! I also added some coarse salt to pair with the ganache. Completely optional but seriously delicious!
Thanks once again Liz for a fabulous dessert!
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Caramel Espresso Bars
Ingredients
crust
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs about 12 rectangles
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 ½ sticks butter melted
Filling
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 stick butter at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
Ganache
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
Garnish
- coarse salt optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º.
- Line an 8 x 8 inch pan with non-stick foil.
- Combine cracker crumbs, butter and sugar and press into bottom of pan firmly.
- Bake 10 mins and cool.
- In heavy saucepan, combine cream, butter, brown sugar, and water.
- Stir over medium heat until the mixture is smooth.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer registers 244º about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Carefully pour the caramel over the warm crust.
- Cool for 20 minutes.
- Freeze until firm, at least 30 minutes.
Ganache
- Combine the chocolate chips and cream in a microwave safe bowl and heat until smooth and melted.
- Whisk in espresso powder.
- Pour this over the firm caramel (make sure it is solid before pouring on the chocolate!)
- Chill 2 hours and cut into bars.
Liz says
Oh, gosh, I MUST make these again! Yours are beautiful!! More caramel bars for the win!!
Hugs & Cookies xoxo says
Thank u!!
Kristi says
Amazing recipe! Added a teaspoon of chili powder to the ganache and couldn’t taste it; will try adding to the Carmel or more to the ganache next time. Also, used salted butter and tempted to make into a 9×13 next time. They were amazingly large blocks!
Jacquelyn Hoult says
Unfortunately, I wasn’t pleased with these bars. There was too much butter for the amount of graham cracker crumbs in the base; even after baking the crust was wet and shiny with butter. There was way too much filling in relation to the crumb base and ganache topping. I love rich and gooey bars but the filling was just too much for me. The amount of coffee powder isn’t enough. I must have added a tablespoon and i still didn’t detect a coffee flavour.
Kathleen says
Loved these bars. F or me they had just the right amount of base and filling. Can’t wait to make them again. Thanks for a great recipe.
Hugs & Cookies xoxo says
So happy you loved them!
Susan says
Absolutely fantastic flavor. Easy to follow instructions. Very rich so we cut them into small “two bite” size squares. This will be a recipe we’ll repeat!