Recipe

Dark Chocolate Turtle Bars

Ingredients
½ cup Kowalski's Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
⅔ cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
½ tsp. Kowalski's Organic Madagascar Vanilla Extract or Paste
2 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
⅓ cup flour
¼ tsp. kosher salt
8 oz. dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
12 oz. pecan halves, coarsely chopped
10 oz. jar Kowalski's Sea Salt Caramel Sauce
- Chocolate Ganache (optional), for finishing
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Spray a 13x9" baking pan with cooking spray. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper in both directions, extending at least 1" beyond the sides of the pan both ways.
  3. Using an electric mixer, beat butter with brown sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy; scrape bowl.
  4. Add egg and vanilla; mix just until smooth.
  5. Add graham cracker crumbs, flour and salt; mix until mixture is crumbly but holds together when pressed.
  6. Reserve 1 ¼ cups of graham cracker mixture; press remaining crumb mixture into bottom of prepared pan.
  7. Distribute chocolate chunks and pecans evenly over crust; pour caramel evenly over top.
  8. Crumble chunky bits of reserved graham cracker mixture over the top of the bars, leaving some of the filling uncovered; bake in preheated oven until caramel is bubbling and edges of crust are beginning to brown (20-25 min.).
  9. Remove from oven; set pan on a cooling rack. Completely cool bars in pan.
  10. Remove bars from pan as a single slab, using the parchment to lift; cut into 12-24 bars as desired. Drizzle with ganache, if desired.