Over the Top Candy Cookie Sourdough Bars

I've been thinking of a way to use up my leftover Halloween candy. I imagined a cookie dough shortbread base that could also be used a streusel on a bar had both a caramel layer and a chopped candy bar layer.  I came up with this mix of my Chocolate Chip Sourdough Blondies and Millionaire Shortbread Bars.

Ingredients:

• 625 gr (5 cups) all-purpose flour
• 226 gr (1 cup, aka 2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small dices
  
• 226 gr (1 cup) sourdough starter
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  
• 250 gr (1,25 cups) granulated sugar
• 300 gr (1.5 cups)  brown sugar
• 2  large eggs
• 2  teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ~ 32 ounces choccolate Dulce de Leche (or spreadable caramel or a fudge topping)
  (I used the recipe in the link, which I made last night)
  
• ~480 gr (16 ounces, ~ 3 cups) chilled candy bars, chopped small
  (I had a mix of mostly York Peppermint Patties with some Reece;s Cups, Almond Joy, M&Ms, and a couple Twix and Kit Kat leftover from Halloween.)
  

 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a half baking sheet (13 x 18-inch pan) with parchment paper and set aside.
   (Use parchment paper not a Silpat line for easier removal and cutting.)
   
2. In a large bowl add flour, salt, baking, and sugars and mix well.
   (I used my food processor for mixing the dry ingredients)
3. Add the butter chunks, and whisk or whirr to create a slightly sandy mix.
4. Stir the eggs and vanilla extract into the sourdough starter and mix well.
5. Fold the wet ingredients into flour mixture until combined.
   (I moved everything into a large bowl, and stirred this together with a sturdy spatula.)
   
6. Press 3/4 of the shortbread into pan, leveling and spreading to edges of pan. Reserve the rest of the shortbread for the streusel. Tth3 shortbead will puff up a bit when baked.
   (I then chilled the shortbread pan in the freezer while I chopped up the candy bars.)
   
7. Chop up the chocolate bars.
   (If your house is warm, chilling them makes them chop easier and stick together less.)
   
8. Top the shortbread by spreading the chocolate Dulce de Leche over the shortbread all the way to the edges.
   (I warmed mine up a minute or two in the microwave, since I made it the night before and I wanted it to spread easier.)
   
   
    
   
9. Sprinkle the chopped chocolate on top
   
   
   
   
10. Top the candy bars by dropping little clumps of the remaining cookie shortbread over the pan, as well as M&Ms if you have them.
    
11. Bake for 26-28 minutes until the streusel bits have some color.
    
    
    
    
12. Let the pan cool on wire rack, then remove using the parchment and cut into small pieces when cooled.
    

 

Carole's Notes:

We really liked this! I was pleased with how the recipe turned out - it matched what I had in my imagination!

The bars are very rich - a tender cookie shortbread layer, a soft chocolate Dulce de Leche layer, candy bar bits, and a crunchy streusel topping.  Because of my chocolate mix, there seems to be some peppermint in every piece.

Since I wanted the shortbread layer to be soft, so I did not pre-bake just the base later.

By the way, I cut these into 48 bars, since they are very rich. I will be giving away half of them!

The recipe adapts https://zestysouthinddiankitchen.com/sourdough-chocolate-chip-cookie-bars/ into a shortbread, and adds a streusel topping. It also combines the soft layers from https://preppykitchen.com/millionaires-shortbread/