Crazy Everything Bars

I am my church's choir director, and I firmly believe in bringing goodies to our weekly choir practices. Occasionally I have volunteers bring something but I usually do it myself, so I'm always looking for new ideas for cookies or bars that will feed a crowd. I found this recipe on this blog, and she got it from Martha Stewart. The official recipe name is "Rocky Ledge Bars," but when I made them (and then ate a couple) I decided to give them my own name, silly as it is. They are super yummy and were a big hit last week with my choir!


(image courtesy of Martha Stewart)




1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 1/2 cups packed dark-brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 cup semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup butterscotch chips
18 soft caramel-candy cubes, coarsely chopped


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Line with parchment paper, allowing a 2-inch overhang on the longer sides. Brush parchment with butter (not overhang).

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix butter and brown sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla; mix until well combined. Mix in flour mixture until combined. Fold in half of each of the marshmallows, chocolates, butterscotch chips, and caramels.

3. Spread batter in prepared pan. Scatter remaining marshmallows, chocolates, butterscotch chips, and caramels on top. Bake until top is golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Lift out of pan, and transfer to a baking sheet. Refrigerate until set, at least 30 minutes.

4. Remove parchment, and cut into about 16 triangles. Bars can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.


Tips:

• I used regular old chocolate chips and white chocolate chips instead of chunks, which was just fine. Also, I didn't have any caramels on hand so right before I put it in the oven, I drizzled some caramel topping (for ice cream) on top; it bubbled up and made them look even more tasty. I used light brown sugar since that's what I had, which was fine, and I don't know how important using "coarse salt" is but I used Kosher. And, I used regular salted butter and it turned out great.

• I didn't use parchment paper. In fact I actually doubled this recipe and cooked it in a half-sheet pan (13x18x1) which fit, just barely, and I just sprayed it really well with Pam beforehand and it did fine.

• You could put really any combination of goodies into these bars. I thought coconut would be nice and will add it next time. The dough is a nice, generic bar dough that lots of stuff would go well with. You could use peanut butter chips, different kinds of chocolate, nuts, etc. Mmm, coconut with macadamia nuts and caramel would be tasty wouldn't it? This would be a great recipe to experiment with. Enjoy!