If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that Krusteaz recently sent me some of their new Molten Deep Dish Cookies mixes to try. While you can certainly make them exactly as they were designed, I couldn’t help but try an augmented version.

Each mix has a couple of recipe variations printed on the box. I decided to make a variation of the Seattle Bars recipe using the chocolate cookie mix with caramel filling. I’m not familiar with Seattle Bars, and a quick search didn’t really give me much. After changing a couple of things, I opted to call these by another name.

No matter what you call them, these bars are a wonderful, cool, chocolate treat. There’s a chocolate graham cracker crust, a layer of caramel, chocolate pudding, and lots of chopped pecans.

These bars remind me a bit of Chocolate Delight, a dessert I remember from my years living in the South. It featured a crust topped off with chocolate pudding and a whipped cream topping. There’s no whipped cream here, caramel is thrown into the mix, and the crust is a bit different, but the general idea is pretty close.

For those of you paying attention, you’ll likely also remember that Krusteaz is going to send one Bake or Break reader one of each of these new mixes. If you’ve not yet entered, find out how to enter by clicking here.

If these mixes aren’t available in your local stores just yet, then you can still make these bars. First, you’ll need a crust. I recommend either this graham cracker crust or a double batch of this chocolate crust. Then, after you’ve baked that, top it off with about 1/2 cup of store-bought caramel sauce. Then, chocolate pudding, either from a mix or your favorite recipe. Top it all off with chopped pecans. Add some coconut or peanut butter chips or chocolate chips or whatever else you’d like.

I just recently realized that I haven’t baked brownies in ages. Seriously, it’s been over three months since I made these guys. After that long of a brownie hiatus, I knew I had to make a comeback in a big way.

These brownies, my friends, are the perfect choice. They are so much more than brownies, though. There’s caramel and nougat and even more chocolate. The finished brownies are
sweet and tall and rich and absolutely gorgeous and delicious 3 patti!

That caramel layer isn’t just caramel. Oh, no. There’s also some crispy rice cereal mixed right in. It gives these brownies a nice crunch and also gives a little more structure to that caramel layer.

And then there’s nougat. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been a big fan of nougat. Of course, my experience with it is limited to mass-produced candy bars I tried in my childhood. This version is far better. It’s gooey and tasty and really works well with these brownies.

I’ll admit that making all these layers will create a lot of mess in the kitchen. I went through more than a few bowls and pans and measuring cups. So, you might want to start with an empty dishwasher, but it will be so worth it once you bite into one of these and embrace all that deliciousness!