Lemon bars

I've been baking for a long time.  I estimate I've been baking from scratch for at least two and a half decades.  I started baking on my own before that for friends in high school, with boxed mixes, even before that.  I've made countless brownies, cupcakes, cakes, fudges, and enough cookies to feed a small army.  One thing I've never made, until today?  Lemon bars!

I honestly don't know why it's taken me this long to bake them.  I think the actual idea got planted in my head when I was shopping at Trader Joe's recently, and they had candied lemon slices. I (obviously) bought them without thinking about it, and then was trying to figure out what I could use them for.  Originally I thought about using them as a garnish on a lemon cupcake, but then the thought came to me: lemon bars!

I have to say that these lemon bars are super easy to make.  Make the shortbread dough, and while it's baking in the oven, prepare the lemon filling.  Then, pour the filling over the hot shortbread crust and pop them back in the oven.  That's it!  The hardest part wasn't actually hard, it was more time consuming -- I had tiny lemons and had to juice them all by hand.  The real hardest part is waiting over 2 hours before being able to cut into them!  (Don't worry, I cheated to taste them -- they're delicious!).

I made these for a baby shower that my friend L and I hosted for our friend E, who is expecting a baby girl at the beginning of February.  The ladies at the shower loved and devoured them!  I had a few leftover at the end of the shower that went to the soon-to-be-daddy, my dad, and B.

I really recommend these lemon bars -- the super thick lemony layer is the real proverbial icing on the cake (or rather filling on the bar ;-))

Thick Lemon Bars
from Little Sweet Baker

Ingredients:

Crust

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp corn starch
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

Filling

3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 large/regular sized lemons)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Decorations

Powdered sugar for dusting
Lemon slices or dried lemon slices

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line an 8x8" square baking pan with parchment paper (I don't have an 8x8" pan so I used my trusty 9x9" pan).

Toss flour, powdered sugar, and cornstarch together.
Cut in the softened butter using a fork or pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly.  You can also pulse with a food processor.
Press into the prepared baking pan.
Bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together he eggs, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
Slowly add the flour, whisking to prevent lumps.
Pour the mixture over the hot crust.
Bake for another 25 minutes or until the lemon filling is set.

Let stand at room temperature to cool.
Chill in the fridge for 2 hours.

Dust with powdered sugar and top with lemon slices.

Note: Lemon bars can be refrigerated in an airtight container

Sugar cookie bars with flower buttercream

I came across a sugar cookie bar I really wanted to make, but didn't have sour cream at home.  We won't talk about the fact that I was at Trader Joe's earlier today -- before I found this recipe -- and reminded myself I wanted to get sour cream in case I made chocolate cupcakes later.  Great reminder, since I left the store without it!

But I digress.

I couldn't make the original sugar cookie bars I wanted to make, but that didn't stop me.  A quick internet search yielded a few other bar recipes (one used cream cheese, which I also didn't have), and I ended up choosing one from Lauren's Latest (remember those recent to die for chocolate chip cookies?  Yeah, those were hers, too, so I knew these bars had to be good!).

I made one and a half times the recipe for the icing, though, because I bought myself a little birthday gift today.  Well, really a few.  I've been eyeing those Russian flower piping tips for a while, and today at the baking store I bought myself 2 sets of them!  I decided that these would be the perfect decoration for the sugar cookie bars, and after I made a HUGE amount of frosting, I divided it up and dyed it different colors, so that I could have a flower garden on top of my sugar cookie bars!  Now all I need to do is perfect my icing leaves!

Sugar Cookie Bars with Flower Buttercream
Recipe from Lauren's Latest, Icing decorations by me

Ingredients:

For the Cookie Bars:

1 cup softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1.5 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups all purpose flour,
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

For the icing (remember, I 1.5 times'd the recipe, listed below is the original recipe):

1/2 cup softened butter
1 pound powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3-4 Tablespoons milk
Sprinkles, if desired

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with parchement paper.
Lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
Set aside.

In a large bowl, stir butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Stir in egg, vanilla, and almond extract.
Whip until fluffy.
Scrape the sides and stir again briefly.
Stir in remaining dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.
It won't come together as a dough initially, but if you can grab a handful, it should hold it's shape.
Spread dough into prepared pan and press down evenly.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until edges are golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool completely.

Make the frosting.

Stir all ingredients together until smooth and fluffy, except for milk.
Start by adding 3 tablespoons of milk and work up from there until frosting is the desired consistency.
If making bars as I did, continue below at the *.
If making the bars as intended, Spread icing over cooled cookie bars.
Add sprinkles if using (if you can believe it, I didn't use sprinkles this time).
Cut into bars and serve.

Unicorn bars

Sometimes a recipe just calls to me, and I feel compelled to make it, even if I don't have a reason/event to make it for. I saw these "unicorn bars" a while ago and wanted to make them.  Time got away from me, and the other day I received a shipment of sprinkles (gorgeous, stunning sprinkles that I ordered from the amazing sweetapolita!) and realized they'd look stunning on these bars!

So I set out to make them.  I realized that my new sprinkles (given their varying sizes, textures, and make-up (some have sixlets (chocolate-filled candies) in them) probably wouldn't mix into the bars well, so I used rainbow sprinkles for the bars themselves, and topped them with the fancy sprinkles.  (And I had fun playing around with my macro lens for my iPhone and took these close-ups of the sprinkles!)

Basically, they're a glorified funfetti cookie base covered in vanilla buttercream (in fun colors!!) and then topped generously with beautiful sprinkles (I used a combination of 4 different kinds of sprinkles -- some regular rainbow sprinkles and 3 different pretty sprinkles mixes that I had bought [in even amounts, because I'm OCD], minus the few sixlets that I picked out and ate while I was making the icing.....but shhhh, no one else needs to know that!). 

These really are gorgeous bars, and super tasty, too!  I made sure to package up a bunch for B to bring to work this weekend, and some others for drinks I have dinner plans with for tomorrow evening.

Unicorn Bars
from Cookies & Cups

Ingredients:

For the bars:

1 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1/2 tsp kosher salt (I recommend crushing it between your fingers as you add it)
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sprinkles

For the frosting:

1 cup butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
2-3 Tbsp milk
Blue food coloring
Pink/red food coloring (I ended up using some pink and then a drop of purple to get a richer purple)
Sprinkles for garnish

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Line a 9 x 13" pan with foil, and coat the foil with nonstick spray
Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar.
Add in the vanilla, eggs, and salt.
Whisk until smooth.
Using a rubber spatula, stir in the flour until just combined.
Finally, stir in the sprinkles.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until the edges are set. 
The bars might seem underdone, but allow them to cool completely.

Make the frosting.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter for 1-2 minutes until it's smooth.
Turn the mixer to low and slowly add in the powdered sugar.
Next, add in 2 tablespoons of milk.
Mix on medium speed until it's creamy, scraping the sides as necessary.
If the frosting is too stiff, add in 1 more tablespoon of milk until the desired consistency is reached.
Finally, add in 1-2 drops of blue food coloring.
Mix until a pale blue color is reached and evenly mixed.
Remove half of the frosting and place in a piping bag.  I chose not to use a piping tip on it, but you can use any tip that you'd like.
To the remaining frosting in the bowl, add 1-2 drops of pink/red food coloring or purple (if you have) and mix again until a pale purple/lavender color is reached and evenly mixed.
Add purple frosting to another piping bag.

Pipe or spread the frosting on top of the bars.
The original blogger piped rich swirls of frosting on the bars before cutting them  I was afraid that it would get too messy, so I cut them and then piped a little dallop of either the blue or purple frosting on top.

Garnish with more sprinkles, if desired.  Definitely, definitely liberally apply sprinkles!

Note: If you pipe the frosting on the uncut bars, with glorious swirls as the original blogger did, you will need to double the amount of frosting.  If you pipe it as I did, half the frosting recipe should be enough, but I'd make a full batch of frosting depending on how big you cut the bars (mine were quite small, about 1 x 1").

Snickerdoodle cookie bars

I really really wanted to bake these about two weeks ago, but I was at B's and I didn't have any cinnamon there.  Shocking, right?  But next time I was in Whole Foods wandering around waiting to meet up with him, I remembered that I needed cinnamon and grabbed some (along with a bunch of random other stuff, but that's another story). 

These were actually called Snickerdoodle Blondie Bars, but mine baked up more like cookie bars.  Buttery, uber decadent, cinnamony delicious cookie bars.  I halved the original recipe, beat the butter and sugar by hand (my stand mixer will make it down there eventually....), and then used an 8x8 inch (disposable....because, again, my pans haven't made it there yet....) pan.  And of course I decided to bake these on my first day of my diet.  But I was good.  My willpower (long absent) kicked in and I had one teeny tiny 1 x 1.5 inch piece and then walked away (and packed them up and told B that he MUST bring them to work with him the next day).

Seriously, guys, make these.  STAT.  Because they are that good!

Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars
From Baked by

Ingredients (this is for the 9 x 13 pan; I halved mine but then used a little extra cinnamon (see italics below for anything that was not halved)):

For the cookie bars:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (I used 1 tsp, because I love cinnamon....so I might use 2 tsp if you are doing the full recipe)
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Topping:

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with parchment paper (or grease it well with butter or baking spray).
Lightly crease the exposed pan and parchment paper.

In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream together butter and both sugars.
Mix in eggs and vanilla.
Add in dry ingredients.
Mix until smooth and no streaks remain.
Lightly grease hands (I skipped that part).
Press the mixture into an even layer in the prepared pan.
Sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Bake for 25-30 minutes (I baked my 8 x 8 pan for 20 minutes).

Allow blondies to cool before slicing.
Store in an airtight container for up to several days.

Peanut butter monster cookie bars

About ten days ago -- actually, MORE THAN TEN WHOLE DAYS AGO!! -- I decided to make some peanut butter monster cookie bars.  I just felt like having a yummy, chunky bar to bite into.  But just one.  I wanted to be good on my diet, so I planned to give most of them away (and for once, I succeeded!!).

I thought I had written a blog post on these already -- I had definitely talked about them enough on facebook, but alas, there is no post here.

So, without much ado, but definitely much belated, here are these delicious (and easy!!) Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Bars!

Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Bars
From Averie Cooks

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (heaping) creamy peanut butter (the original recipe says to skip homemade or natural since they're too runny, but I used Skippy natural and it worked just fine)
1 cup flour
1 cup peanut butter M&Ms, plus a few extra for the top
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, chunks, or a combination (I used a mixture)
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1/3 cup toffee bits

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Line an 8x8" pan with foil.
Spray foil-lined pan with cooking spray.
Set aside.

In a large, microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter.
I did mine on 30 second intervals, to make sure it didn't get too hot.
Let cool for a few minutes, so that you don't scramble the eggs when you add them.
Add the egg, brown sugar, and vanilla.
Whisk until smooth.

Add the peanut butter, and with a whisk, incorporate until smooth.
Add the flour and stir until just combined, being sure not to overmix.
Add the add-ins (M&Ms, chips and chunks, and toffee bits).
Fold until incorporated.

Pour the batter into the pan.
With a spatula, smooth the top to make it flat.
Place a few of the peanut butter M&Ms on top, since it'll make them look extra pretty :)

Bake for about 24 minutes, or until the top is set.
Inserting a toothpick in the center is a good way to check -- it should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs.  If there is batter, they are undercooked and need to bake longer.
Allow them to cool in the pan for at least a half hour, before cutting them.

Cereal bars with peanuts and pretzels

I saw this recipe and was intrigued.  The original recipe was called Good Morning Sunshine Bars.  It was a no bake bar made with cereal, hence the name "good morning sunshine" bars.  But then I started reading the recipe and saw all the corn syrup and brown sugar in them, and then they were topped with chocolate, and I thought to myself that these probably aren't the healthiest breakfast to eat.  So what if the main ingredient was Chex cereal?

But just because I thought that they probably wouldn't be the best breakfast option, didn't mean that they didn't sound good to me!  So I played around with them a little bit.  I assumed the syrup would be sweet, so I decided I'd add an additional salty element, and I decreased the peanuts to a half cup (I didn't chop them -- I was lazy), but I did add a cup of crushed pretzels to the mix to up the saltiness and make them salty-sweet (I also decreased the salt to about a teaspoon).  I even debated leaving off the chocolate.....but who was I kidding?  Everything is better with a little chocolate!

Cereal Bars with Peanuts and Pretzels
Adapted from these Good Morning Sunshine Bars from Bake or Break, originally from Baked Elements

Ingredients:

6 cups of Rice Chex (I used 3 cups of Rice Chex and 3 cups of Corn Chex)
1/2 cups salted peanuts
1 cup of pretzels, broken
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt (if you like things a little more salty, you can easily go up to 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt)
6 ounces milk chocolate

Directions:

Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 inch baking pan (I used Pam).
Line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the two short sides.
Butter the parchment (I used Pam, again).

Place Chex, peanuts, and pretzels in a large bowl.
Mix together until combined.

Place brown sugar and corn syrup in a medium saucepan.
Stir together and cook over medium heat.
Bring to boil for one minute.
Remove from heat.
Stir in peanut butter, vanilla, and salt.

Pour sugar mixture over cereal mixture.
Stir gently until cereal is coated with sugar mixture.

Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Allow to cool to room temperature (or place in fridge for 15-20 minutes).

Once bars have cooled, melt chocolate (the microwave or a double boiler will work).
Drizzle the melted chocolate over the bars.
Allow chocolate to set.

Using the parchment overhangs, remove the bars from the pan.
Cut into bars, 3 x 1.5 inches.

Chocolate crunch

I've made a lot of Rice Krispie Treats this year.  Most recently were some Peppermint Rice Krispie Treats, sprinkled with some crushed candy canes.  They were deliciously pepperminty without being overly pepperminty.  I bought a large box of Rice Krispies so that I could make a second kind of Rice Krispie treat that my friend N had been talking about a lot lately, but then I saw this recipe that I got in an email, and knew that this was the best use for my leftover Rice Krispies.  Partly because they'll be perfect for the box of treats for my doormen, and partly because they use chocolate, and you know me -- I'm a sucker for chocolate!  Especially dark chocolate!

I know, I know, you're going to look at the ingredients and you're going to think "one and a half POUNDS of chocolate?  Is she serious?"  And the answer is....yes.  You read that correctly.  I'm a sucker for dark chocolate, so I planned to keep the ingredients just as they are.  See, I was thinking that you might be able to use another chocolate if you wanted, but frankly, I'd stick with the dark chocolate.  Except when I got to the store to buy the dark chocolate, they were out.  Out of dark chocolate.  The nerve!  So instead I went ahead and bought some milk chocolate, thinking that it would be good that way, but maybe a little sweeter than dark chocolate.  But I have to say, subbing the milk chocolate for the dark chocolate came out, well, awesome!

I thought about adding some French sea salt to the chocolate mixture, but figured that would be better with dark chocolate than milk chocolate..  I also thought about sprinkling some festive sprinkles on top since they're for the holidays.  And then I thought about drizzling them with some contrasting chocolate just for some pizazz.  I ended up doing none of the three.  The first time I made them, I wanted to see how they were as they are.  They were delicious!  The second two options wouldn't really alter the flavor but would make them more festive.

Chocolate Crunch
By the Mast Brothers, found via TastingTable.com

It says it makes 24 squares, but I can't figure how they make 24 squares, but I digress.  I guess they cut them 4 x 6 to yield 24, but they aren't squares.  I tried cutting mine in 1.5 x 1.5 inch squares, which yielded 36 squares.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds dark chocolate, chopped -- Like I said, I had actually intended to keep the recipe exactly as it, but lack of dark chocolate in the store meant I had to compromise...so I used milk chocolate...and they turned out deliciously. 
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 Tbsp peanut butter
1 Tbsp honey
4 cups puffed rice cereal

Directions:

Although the recipe didn't state it, I lined my 9 x 9 inch pan with wax paper (parchment paper would work, also).  I just figured it would make it easier to remove from the tray.

In the top of a double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter.  Mine was on the thicker side.
Add peanut butter and honey and mix until combined.
Remove from the heat, mix in the puffed rice and pour into a 9-inch square baking pan.  Since mine was thicker, it was difficult to mix well and it didn't pour so well, so instead of pouting it I transferred it to a pan and then pressed it down using some plastic wrap (wax paper would've worked well, too, except I was out of it).

Let set in the fridge, at least 2 hours.
Bring to room temperature before cutting into squares.

Edible (host and hostess) gifts

The holidays are upon us!

For most of you, this means the holiday parties are upon us.  What better gift to bring to the host or hostess of a party than a delicious edible gift?

I've compiled a list of some of my favorite edible gifts from the blog, and listed them for you based on the type of treat (for easy reference).  They're great for any host or hostess, or any other foodie friends you have!

Cookies:

Chewy Ginger Cookies (pictured)

Dried Cranberry and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ruggelach Pinwheels, in assorted flavors (pictured)

World Peace Cookies

Macarons 

Chewy Chocolate Cookies with White Chocolate Chips (pictured)

Triple Ginger Cookies

 

Bars & Brownies:

Peppermint Bark Brownies (pictured)

Cappuccino Brownies

Cranberry Bliss Bars (pictured)

Nuts:

Sweet and Spicy Candied Nuts
Candied Espresso Walnuts
Candied Cinnamon-Sugar Nuts (pictured)

Candies:

Peppermint Bark (pictured)
Cheesecake Truffles
Oreo Cake Balls
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles (may want to leave the sticks off of these) (pictured)
Festive Chocolate Covered Pretzels (pictured)
Cake Balls
Caramels
Chocolate Pretzel Treats (pictured)

Other:

Olive Oil and Maple Granola
Lovin' Spoonfuls (in a holiday theme) (pictured)

Salted pretzel chocolate chip cookie dough Snickers bars

These Salted Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Snickers Bars are also called Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pretzel Snickers Bars.  Whoa, what a mouthful!  Literally and figuratively.  I think I'm going to have to start referring to these as BBCCCDPS Bars.  It's just such a mouthful to say the whole thing, so I'm going to refer to them using the acronym from here on out.

As soon as I saw these, I knew that I must make them.  Must must must.  They just looked so fantastic and so darn tasty.  Nougat and chocolate and caramel and peanuts and cookie dough and pretzels?!  My head was spinning.  And although they contain the components of a snickers bar (nougat, chocolate, peanuts, and caramel, in case you've been living under a rock for, well, all your life), they have added cookie dough AND pretzels.  Sweet and salty.  Yum!!

 

 

Best part?  It's a no bake recipe!  So I made one layer, then watched some TV and ordered in dinner (hey, I worked today and I was making these bars, I deserved a break when it came to cooking dinner).  I made the second layer, ate dinner, and then made the third layer.  Unloaded the dishwasher, made the fourth layer, and then microwaved the fifth layer and then assembled them.  It's that easy! (Ok, ok, it wasn't that easy, there was actually a bit of "cooling" time in between layers, but they were still pretty easy to make!).

There are actually several pots needed for this recipe -- although I washed the same pot between layers.  Again, not that easy, but again totally worth it.   For the top layer, I just caved and used the microwave -- shhh, don't tell.

All I can say is, grease the pan very well.  I used Pam and I don't know that it was enough.  Next time I make these -- and I will likely make them again -- I would probably brush the entire pan liberally with melted butter.

**These are delicious -- and super sweet! -- but mine look nothing like the original recipe.  Check out the link below to see the difference.  Either way, they're delicious, but mine are not quite as pretty as the original**

Salted Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Snickers Bars
from Half Baked Harvest

Ingredients:

Bottom Layer

 

1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips (or can sub dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips)

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

 

Nougat Layer

 

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup canned coconut milk or regular milk

1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff

1 cup salted peanuts chopped, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Caramel

 

1 14-ounce bag of caramels (I only found 11 oz bags, so I had to buy two in order to get enough)

1/4 cup coconut milk or cream

 

Brown Butter Cookie Dough Layer

 

1 1/2 (3/4 cup) sticks butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons heavy cream or coconut milk

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 -3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

 

Top chocolate layer

 

1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips (or can sub dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips)

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup pretzels (twist or sticks)

1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted

 

Directions:

 

Thoroughly grease a 9x13 inch-baking pan.

 

Melt 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips with 1/4-cup peanut butter in a saucepan or microwave, then pour into the baking dish and spread until even.

Place in the fridge for 30 minutes or in the freezer for 15 minutes.

While the chocolate hardens make the nougat layer.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Add in sugar and milk, stirring until dissolved and bring to a boil.
Let cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add in marshmallow fluff and vanilla, stirring until smooth.
Turn off heat and fold in peanuts, then pour over bottom chocolate layer.
Let cool completely, about 30 minutes or 15 minutes in the fridge.

 

While nougat layer cools make the caramel layer.

 

Combine the caramels and cream in a saucepan over low heat.

Let melt, stirring occasionally, until smooth, this took about 10 minutes.

Pour over nougat layer and let cool completely, about 10 minutes.  FYI, I think my caramel was too hot when I poured it onto the nougat layer, as the nougat bubbled a little and the layers may have mixed a little in the center while I was spreading it.

 

While the caramel layer cools make the cookie dough.

 

In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan add the remaining butter, melt butter over medium heat until just browned.

Butter will melt, foam, and froth, then begin to brown along the bottom.   Mine got a little darker, but I don't think it was burnt.  That's what happens when you walk away from the pot and get distracted doing something else.  Again, shhhh, don't tell.

Whisk browned bits off of the bottom of the pan and pour into the bowl of a stand mixer or large bowl.

Allow to cool 10 minutes.

**If browning butter is not your thing you may skip the step and just use softened room temperature butter.**   Next time, I'd probably go without the browning step.  Made the pot dirty again.  And frankly, I love cookie dough as it is.  But it was good with the browned butter.

 

Add the brown sugar, cream or coconut milk and vanilla.

Beat until combined, fluffy and light in color.  Mine didn't get light or fluffy.  Oops.

Beat in the flour and salt until combined.  I added more flour to make it a cookie dough consistency (just under 1/4 cup).

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Spread the cookie dough over the caramel layer, be carful not to press too hard into the caramel. You don't want to mix the two layers.  This was less of an issue than when I poured the caramel on the nougat.  However, I didn't have enough cookie dough to cover the entire caramel layer -- the edges were a little bare, so when I made the top layer, I made 1.5 times the recipe to ensure that the whole thing was covered.

 

Melt 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips with 1/4-cup peanut butter (I 1.5 timed the recipe.  But of course as I am typing this, I realized that I 1.5 times'd the chocolate, but TRIPLED the peanut butter.  No wonder I thought it looked more peanut buttery than the  bottom layer.  Crap!  Sometimes I'm such an idiot!!...but in the end, it actually came out OK) in a saucepan, or just microwave them.

Pour over caramel cookie dough and spread until even.

Sprinkle with the pretzels (I didn't measure them, but eyeballed them) and drizzle with the remaining melted chocolate (I did 1/4 cup semisweet and 1/4 cup milk to contrast the chocolate layer -- which now I realized I didn't need to do since my top layer was overly peanutbuttered.  Duh).

Let cool and harden completely.

 

Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving, then cut as desired.  I may not have waited quite long enough, but when cutting them, the bottom layer stuck to the bottom of the pan.  It might be better if I had frozen them, it might have been better, but my freezer is full of other stuff :-/

 

These can stay at room temperature, but they do get soft and gooey.

The original recipe says that they personally liked them best kept in the fridge, but left out for 15 minutes or so before eating!