Shelly's Recipe

ROLO DREAM BARS

Category: Bars

For the Shortbread Base
1 cup butter (2 sticks), room temperature
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

For the Dream Bar Topping
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs, well-beaten
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut, toasted (toasting is optional)
1 cup diced nuts: walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds or crisp rice cereal
26 Rolos, frozen and unwrapped

Start by freezing a bag of Rolos for 2-24 hours.

For the Shortbread Base
Preheat oven to 300F.

Cream together the butter, sugar, and salt with a mixer on medium speed. Add flour and mix again until fully combined. Dough may be crumbly. This is okay.

Spray a 9" x 13" casserole dish with baking or cooking spray. Press dough into the dish, creating an evenly distributed crust.

Bake for 30 minutes, until cookie begins to look lightly brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least an hour.

When cookie is cool to the touch, prepare the topping.

For the Dream Bar Topping
Preheat oven to 325F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, flour and baking powder. Mix until evenly combined with a mixer on medium speed.

In a separate bowl, crack and then whisk eggs until yolks are broken and fully mixed into the whites. Add to brown sugar mixture and mix on medium speed again.

Add coconut and nuts, mixing until fully incorporated. Set aside.

Place 12-14 Rolos directly on top of Shorbread base in casserole dish. Spoon brown sugar-coconut mixture on top of shortbread/rolos, covering base completely.

Press the remaining Rolos into the topping. (By doing this separately, you'll get some Rolos that melt inside the topping, and others that stay intact, which adds great texture.)

Bake for 30-35 minutes until topping is golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool overnight. When you first remove from the oven, the topping will be unset. It will set completely as it cools, and create an almost "brownie" like crust. Cut into bars once completely cooled.

These bars are incredibly rich, so small bars (2" x 2") are appropriate.