Three Words: Caramel, Pecan, Chocolate

Before the holidays I made these amazing caramel chocolate pecan bars for a friend (they were very hard to part with) and when I got back home I wanted to make something similar for my holiday party with my friends. However one thing I found was the bars were a bit difficult to cut, so I made these little turtle tarts which were equally delicious. Both recipes are amazing and extremely sweet, the bars are probably easier to make however the tarts are so cute looking!

First, the bars:

Ingredients
Crust:
2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup pecan halves
Topping:
2/3 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
1. To make the crust, combine flour, brown sugar, and butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9" x 13" baking pan.
2. Gently press pecans evenly over the top of the crust and set aside.
3. In a saucepan over medium heat combine butter and brown sugar. Stir constantly until mixture begins to boil, continue stirring to ensure it doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan. Allow to boil for 1 minute then immediately pour over crust and pecans.
4. Bake 18-20 minutes until caramel layer is bubbly. Don't overbake!
5. Once you take the bars out of the oven sprinkle with chocolate chips while they are still hot so the chocolate melts. Use a toothpick to swirl the chocolate over the crust.
6. Cool in fridge completely before cutting into bars.

mmm caramellll

Second, the tarts:

Ingredients

1 Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix

One egg and the butter required for the mix

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

About 3 cups of caramels, unwrapped

1/3 cup whipping creme

1/2 cup pecan halves

Directions

1. Make dough according to package directions. Roll into 1 inch balls and press into the bottom of mini muffin cups. This is where this recipe gets time consuming, you need to make sure you don't use too much dough in each cup but make sure there is enough dough to go up on all the way on the sides.

2. Bake 8-9 min. When the tarts come out of the oven they will have completely filled the cups, the directions said to use the back of a wooden spoon (I used the back of a pen which I washed) to press the dough back down. Bake for another 2 minutes.

3. While the tarts are baking place caramels and cream in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly to avoid burning. Reduce heat to low (or remove from heat if you are afraid of it burning, you can always reheat if the caramel begins to harden).

4. Once tarts have finished baking place 3-4 chocolate chips in each. Fill each cup with caramel and top with a few pecans. Let tarts cool before removing from pans (I removed them before adding caramel so I could make more).

And there you have it, two amazing recipes combing three delicious ingredients.