I like chocolate – in moderation. I’ve sort of chocolate-d myself out lately, so I needed a break from it. I decided to focus on caramel this week instead.
These salted caramel cashew bars were inspired by an ice cream sundae.
I found myself ordering the sundae, eating the caramel and cashews, and then just picking at the ice cream. So, I decided to try to recreate the dessert minus the ice cream.
Now, it may sound like these bars would be too salty (salted butter, salted cashews, pinch of salt on top), but they need the salt to balance out all of the sugar in these guys.
Otherwise, the bars would taste really sweet and sort of flatly boring.
The salt keeps interesting. Mini science digression – salt allows you to more fully taste sugar, so it tastes better with a bit of salt.
The day that we talked about baking and taste in chemistry was the day that chemistry finally started to be interesting for me.
While we’re talking about salt, please don’t use regular table salt on top of these bars.
It has smaller grains and is saltier than a finishing salt like fleur de sel, so they may end up too salty if you use iodized (table) salt.
More salted caramel recipes!
Salted Caramel Cashew Bars
Ingredients
Salted Caramel Sauce
- 1 cup salted butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar packed
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Shortbread Crust
- ½ cup . salted butter softened
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
Everything Else
- 2 cups unsalted cashews
- Pinch of fleur de sel optional
Instructions
- To make the caramel, add butter, brown sugar, and heavy cream to a heavy saucepan.1 cup salted butter, 1 cup dark brown sugar, 1 cup heavy cream
- Whisking regularly, bring to a boil.
- Boil for 5 minutes, whisking regularly.
- Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla extract.1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Let sauce cool while you make the crust.
- Preheat oven to 300 F. Line an 8x8-inch pan with parchment paper. Lightly grease the parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together butter, sugar, and vanilla until well-combined.½ cup . salted butter, ½ cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Stir in flour until just incorporated.1 cup all-purpose flour
- Press crust evenly into prepared pan.*
- Prick the crust with a fork all over the base.
- Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and middle is light golden brown.
- Remove crust from oven, and let cool in the pan to room temperature.
- Sprinkle cashews over crust.
- Pour 2 cups caramel evenly over cashews and crust, and sprinkle with fleur de sel, if using.2 cups unsalted cashews, Pinch of fleur de sel
- Place bars in fridge, uncovered, and chill until set.
- Cover, and chill remaining caramel.
Notes
Nutrition
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Reader Interactions
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Comments & Reviews
Carmen Miller says
These are delicious, just be sure to cook the sauce until it thickens.
Kate says
Thank you!
Carmen Miller says
I just made these bars and have had them in the refrigerator for nearly hours. It doesn’t appear that the carmel is anywhere close to setting up, how long is it supposed to take?
Kate says
Hi! The caramel should be fairly thick before they go in the fridge, and it should set up pretty quickly.
Carmen Miller says
I thought so, too, maybe I didn’t cook it long enough. I ended up putting them back into the oven and baked for another 20 minutes or so and they thickened up.Thanks for the recipe, they’re a hit!
Kate says
I’m so glad that they ended up working out for you!
Amber @ rick•a•bam•boo says
These look amazbars. lol. I’m so trying these!
kateheartseating says
Love it! =)
Heather @ French Press says
LOVE these. Cashews are m y fave
kateheartseating says
Thanks! I’m a huge fan of cashews, too! =)
Lisa@ Cooking with Curls says
I don’t know that I have ever reached the chocolate d out stage, but these do look mighty delicious :)
kateheartseating says
Thanks! I think I’m one of the only people who does get too much chocolate at times!
Stephanie says
These look delicious!
kateheartseating says
Thanks so much!! =)
Beth says
Many of your dessert recipes call for a mixer w/a paddle attachment…I don’t own a mixer or any attachments, I own a beater and mixing spoons, and that’s it…can anything else be used in place of this appliance?
kateheartseating says
Yes! I write it that way because that’s what I use, but, many times, a hand mixer or by hand would also work just fine (like on this recipe you could use a hand mixer or stir the crust dough together by hand). For the bread doughs, you could mix many of them by hand, too. If you have any questions on any other recipes, please let me know! You can also email me because sometimes the new comments don’t show up right away on my end. =)
Beth says
Thank You for the info.! :)
kateheartseating says
Any time! Like I said, please let me know if you have any other questions! =)
Leslie Reuer says
It says to add salt to the shortbread cookie base, but I don’t see that in the ingredient list. Is there supposed to be salt in that part or not. Thanks.
Kate says
Hi! I’m not sure where the note went, but you only need to add salt if you use unsalted butter. If using unsalted butter, add 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
Bintu @ Recipes From A Pantry says
Thank you for entering these at the Top Recipe Showcase for March 2013. My nuts of choice are always cashews so I like this.
kateheartseating says
Thanks!! =)