Salt River Bars

When I shared the recipe for Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies on Monday, I mentioned that I'm a bit lazy in the cookie baking department. Well this no-bake cookie bar is right up my alley. You melt stuff and layer it in a pan. Hot diggity.

Salt River Bars are also handy because they keep well in the fridge. When you're pulling a million dishes together and wrapping a trillion presents for the holidays, you need stuff that you can prepare ahead of time. And with a pan full of Salt River Bars at the ready, you'll have a salty, sweet, chocolate-y, peanut butter-y, caramel treat to nibble on while you're building that doggone Barbie dream house. Ho ho ho!

Salt River Bars
Adapted from Bakergirl

Club crackers (You'll need about a sleeve and a half.)
1 (very) heaping cup peanut butter chips
1 cup butter (That's two sticks.)
1 cup brown sugar
11.5 ounce bag chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli 60% cacao chips.)
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
Coarse salt

Line a 8" x 8" square baking dish with aluminum foil. Make sure the foil is long enough so it hangs over the edges of the pan. This will give you "handles" to remove the bars from the pan later. (Also, if you have a baking dish with squared-off edges as opposed to a curved bottom, now's the time to use it. If not, don't sweat it.) Spray the foil with non-stick cooking spray.

Place 15 Club crackers on the bottom of the pan (three rows of five). Sprinkle a third of the peanut butter chips over the crackers.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it is bubbly and smooth. This will take about 5 minutes. Evenly pour or spoon a third of the brown sugar mixture over the peanut butter chips in the pan. Top with another layer of fifteen crackers, another third of the peanut butter chips, and another third of the brown sugar mixture. And then one more time...Repeat with a third layer of fifteen crackers, the remaining peanut butter chips, and the remaining brown sugar mixture. Top with a fourth layer of fifteen crackers.

PHEW! Did you get all that layering? It goes like this:

15 crackers
One third of the peanut butter chips
One third of the brown sugar mixture

15 crackers
One third of the peanut butter chips
One third of the brown sugar mixture

15 crackers
One third of the peanut butter chips
One third of the brown sugar mixture
15 crackers



Once all of that deliciousness is layered in your pan, melt the chocolate chips together with the vegetable oil. Feel free to use a double boiler, but I used my trusty microwave. Place the chocolate chips and oil in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30-second increments, stirring in between, until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Evenly pour chocolate over the final layer of crackers.

Allow the chocolate to cool for a few minutes and then sprinkle with sea salt. (If you put the sea salt on the chocolate while it's still super hot, the salt will melt. It will still have the salty-sweet taste, but you'll miss seeing those lovely flakes.)

Place bars in the fridge to cool. After they've cooled for 20-30 minutes, cut through the partially-set chocolate so it's easier to cut through once the bars are completely cooled. Let the bars finish cooling before you cut them for serving. (I removed the bars from the pan to cut them, but they got a little crumbly. Next time, I'll cut them in the pan, then remove them using the aluminum foil handles.)