Caramel-Nut Bars

Okay so these look really intimidating – there is caramel…don’t burn the sugar

Full disclosure these photos are from the first time I made these two years ago but have made them again and am finally ready to post about it

This recipe is 2ish, ok maybe 3 parts…the cookie base, the roasted nuts and the caramel

The nuts are chopped and roasted – easy peasy

The cookie base is pretty simple – butter and sugar and roll it out on to the tray and bake…so easy I didn’t even get photos

Now comes the difficult part – the caramel which needs to be taken off the heat at just the right temperature so it doesn’t get too hard and is inedible. But it could also go the other way and be a runny sloppy gooey mess…anxiety is high with this one, so I naturally called in reinforcements.

So the sugar goes in with cream of tartar and water and it cooks until the sugar starts to melt.

It is going well – so far –

I get the sugar to the right temperature, 300⁰F remove from heat and add the cream, it always bubbles and I am afraid of getting burnt or spilling over on to the stove top.

All goes well and I cool the caramel for 10 minutes then add the nuts

Once it is well combined I pour over the cooled crust and bake until the caramel is set…Martha says 10 minutes but I can’t tell so once it has cooled I put the tray into the fridge to firm up further