'Join the Club' Bars

/
You may just want to ‘Jon the Club’ sooner than later. ;)

You may just want to ‘Jon the Club’ sooner than later. ;)

So, first off - this is a Newport Sea Salt variation from a ‘Salt River Bar’ recipe. Matt brought the recipe to my attention from his Sea Salt newsfeed he subscribes to and I knew right away that I had to give it a try with our sea salt on top. I made a few changes to the original recipe and used semi-sweet chocolate instead of milk chocolate and our sea salt instead of Maldon. So voila - now you have ‘Join the Club’ Bars, for those that have fallen off the “No Dessert Resolution” Wagon. Our 15-year-old, Matthew named them ‘Heaven’ and our son, Connor was speechless - he just closed his eyes and stayed in the present enjoying this decadent bar.

What is ‘Join the Club’ Bar? It is essentially two layers of buttery and sugary (thank you to 2 cups of packed light brown sugar) caramel in between three layers of Club Crackers. Surprising with the Club crackers, right?! The topping is a thick covering of chocolate, butterscotch, and peanut butter. Newport Sea Salt is sprinkled on the top balancing out the sweetness and making these oh so memorable. You will want to have others ‘Join the Club’ and share them at your Superbowl and Oscar parties.

A few tips before you get going on this recipe: Make sure you chill before adding the chocolate topping. I have a bit of a mess in a baking pan right now…but I am thinking of chopping up the rest of the pan and making the pieces for a vanilla bean ice cream topping. I was not P A T I E N T and really need to learn to practice that. I was about to package these up to deliver to our vendors on our deliveries today, but I didn’t let them chill long enough. Note to self: Chill out. ;)

So please if you have joined ‘the club’ and give this recipe a try, please let me know what you think.

‘Join the Club’ Bar Ingredients":

  • 1 box of Club crackers - approximately 2 packages from the box to make 3 layers.

  • 1 cup butter, salted, I used unsalted and used a pinch of our fine sea salt…

  • 2 cups light brown sugar, packed

  • 1 cup graham cracker crumbs

  • 3/4 cups heavy cream

  • 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

  • 1/2 cup butterscotch chips

  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Instructions:

  1. Prepare a 9 by 13-inch pan by lining it with parchment paper, leaving the two long edges a bit long so that it can be used to remove the bars from the pan later.  Spray the parchment and sides of the pan with nonstick spray or lather it up with butter as I did.

  2. Cover the bottom of the pan with the first layer of crackers on top of the parchment.  Cut the crackers to fit as needed.  I used five rows of six crackers and halved or third some crackers for the side and bottom of the pan.

  3. In a medium-sized heavy-bottomed pan, melt butter, brown sugar, graham cracker crumbs, and heavy cream together over medium heat, stirring constantly.  

  4. Bring the mixture to a boil, continuing to stir, and boil for 7-8 minutes.

  5. Pour half of the caramel mixture over the crackers, spreading it evenly to the edges of the pan.  Working quickly, add another layer of crackers over the caramel. It would be helpful to add your family members in this step to help arrange the crackers.

  6. Pour the rest of the caramel over the second layer of crackers, and then add a final layer of crackers.

  7. Refrigerate the pan to chill and set the caramel layers while you make the chocolate topping. I would advise chilling this pan for more than my 15 minutes…at least an hour to firm the layers before the chocolate topping goes on top. My first attempt came out a little bit messy and I look forward to chilling the pan out next time instead of rushing the steps.

  8. To make the chocolate topping, add semi-sweet chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and peanut butter to a double boiler, pot or microwave and melt the mixture together. Pour the chocolate topping over the final layer of crackers, spreading it evenly to the edges.   Sprinkle Newport Sea Salt over the chocolate layer to taste.

  9. Chill for 3 hours or more before using a sharp knife to cut into bars.  Lifting the parchment paper edges to lift the whole thing out of the pan will make cutting easier. Cut in squares or fingers - they are very decadent. A little goes a long way! PS: Going to package some up for our milk deliverer and our postal carrier. :)

Thanks for following along on our Sea to Salt Journey. I hope these recipes give you inspiration to use our sea salt to finish your desserts. Next t is that Foccacia recipe! I promise!

Happy weekend to all!