If Snickers were a Bar Cookie


Today is the NFL Draft which means P and friends will be over to enjoy the draft and to eat. P takes care of all of the food for the most part but I thought I would make something sweet for them. I asked P for suggestions and he let me have free reign. So that means trying a new recipe. So while perusing my cookbooks I decided to make Dorie Greenspan's Snickery Squares. Mainly because I had purchased dulce de leche for an ice cream recipe I never got around to making. So when the only thing that had to be baked was the crust I was all over this recipe. It was pretty easy to assemble. The squares turned out great and the only problem I had was getting them out of the pan but once I got the first one out the rest came out no problem. They were really good but what is there not to love chocolate, shortbread crust and dulce de leche. I could eat a can of dulce de leche by itself, and you have about 3/4 of a can left over after making this recipe so watch how fast it disappears!

Snickery Squares

Crust -
1 cup of AP Flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 stick of unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten

Filling -
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons of water
1 1/2 cups of salted peanuts
1 1/2 cups of store bought dulce de leche

Topping -
7 oz semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 stick of unsalted butter, cut into pieces at room temperature

Crust Directions -
Preheat oven to 350 and spray an 8 inch baking pan with non stick spray, place the baking pan on a cookie sheet. In a food processor place the flour, sugar, powdered sugar, and salt. Pulse a few times to combine. Add in the chilled butter and pulse until it resembles coarse meal. Add in the yolk and pulse until the dough forms clumps and curds but stop before the dough comes together to form a ball. Turn the dough out into the pan and gently press it evenly across the bottom of the pan . Prick the dough all over with a fork and slide the cookie sheet into the oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the crust starts to brown around the edges. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool to room temperature.

Filling Directions -
Place parchment paper or a Silicone mat in a cookie sheet. In a medium saucepan add the water and sugar and stir with a wooden spoon over medium high heat until the sugar dissolves. Once it has dissolved stop stirring and cook until it just starts to color. Then toss in the peanuts and immediately start stirring. Keep stirring to coat the peanuts with the sugar and within a few minutes they will be covered with the sugar and will turn white. Stir them until the sugar turns back into caramel. When they are coated with a nice deep amber caramel, place them on the prepared cookie sheet and spread them out as evenly as possible. Cool the peanuts to room temperature. Once they are cool break half of the nuts into large pieces and set aside. Take the other half of the nuts and finely chop them and then set those aside for the topping.
Spread the dulce de leche over the cooled crust and sprinkle the reserved large pieces of candied peanuts over the dulce de leche.

Topping Directions -
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler once melted remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Stir until it is fully blended into the chocolate. Pour the chocolate over the dulce de leche, smoothing it with an offset spatula. Then sprinkle with the reserved finely chopped peanuts. Chill in the fridge for at least 20 minutes but if you want to serve them cold (and in my opinion make them easier to cut) chill them at least 3 hours. Cut them into 16 bars and serve.

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours.

Popular Posts