Mindful Monday was about the time I spent with my girlfriends. Fat Tuesday is going to be about something I fed to them. My girl, Wendy was feeling these bars. Just like the name suggests, there is some butter in there. If you cut these up like you would a pan of brownies, you would end up with about 24 bars. I suggest that you cut them even smaller than that and serve them in bites. They are rich! When I say “rich”, I mean you need to have some milk or coffee handy!

For the salted caramel, you can buy it or make it. Trader Joe’s has a great salted caramel sauce. If you go that route, you will need to buy the 11oz jar and use the whole thing. If you choose to make it, you can find an excellent recipe here. This is the recipe I used and it came out fantastic! The “crust” part of the bars is a modified shortbread recipe, and it worked.

You will need the following:

• 4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla
• 4 cups all purpose flour plus 2 Tbsp
• Sea salt

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking dish liberally with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. Beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla.
3. Gradually add the flour a cup at a time until combined.
4. Press half of the dough evenly into the bottom of the greased pan and refrigerate the other half. Bake for 15 minutes.
5. Add the reserved 2 Tbsp. flour to the salted caramel and combine. Pour caramel sauce over the crust and spread to cover the bottom crust.
6. Crumble remaining dough over caramel sauce evenly, pat lightly into caramel sauce. Sprinkle with sea salt and return to oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden and bubbling.

Allow the bars to cool completely before cutting into single or double bite sized pieces. Lastly, take a step back, watch people give them a try and prepare your back for the many pats that are sure to come. Swearing Mom out!