The caramel bubbling in the pan makes a dull, almost creamy sound — a slow simmer that promises something serious. These bars take less than 30 minutes of active work, with a result that looks like a pastry shop confection. Pretzel, homemade caramel, dark chocolate: three layers, zero complication.
Ingredients :
- Crushed pretzels — The final texture depends a lot on the size of the chunks. Pretzels crushed too finely give a compact, characterless base. You want irregular fragments — some almost whole, others reduced to crumbs — for that characteristic crunch under your teeth.
- Packed brown sugar — Richer in molasses than white sugar, it caramelizes with notes of licorice and butter that make homemade caramel incomparable to store-bought. It gives the caramel its deep amber color.
- Heavy cream — Added off the heat to stop cooking and soften the caramel. Cream with less than 30% fat may separate from the heat. Heavy cream incorporates without any trouble.
- Semisweet dark chocolate chips — They melt directly on the hot caramel — no need for a double boiler. Dark chocolate at 50-55% cocoa holds up better to cutting than milk chocolate, which tends to soften at room temperature.
