Salted Nut Bars

The most difficult thing about this recipe is unwrapping all of the little caramels.  Other than that, this recipe is a breeze.  Three ingredients and about 20 minutes of your time and you are finished.  Of course you must wait about 2 hours to cut the bars.

The orginial Martha Stewart recipe called for dry roasted peanuts.  I used cocktail peanuts which are a lot more oily and do not have such a strong taste and I also added cashew pieces.  I was very happy with the results.  A double recipe of this makes a perfect 13x9 inch pan.  Make sure you are pouring the melted caramel into a well greased pan. These are ultra sticky!!  I cut them with a very large sharp knife that I sprayed the blade with Pam.  They sliced very easily and neatly.  I think I'm going to individually wrap mine in wax paper squares.  These photos show the nut bars cut into pretty large pieces but I think I'm going to cut them down into mouth size pieces. They are very sweet and rich and I think one big mouthful is perfect. Plus, when you do try and take a bite of the big bars, they streeeeeetch out really far!  There is no way to eat them daintily.  I can imagine that if it's warm at your place, these would need to be stored in the fridge.  The caramel is firm but still impressionable.

Salted Nut Bars
Based on a Martha Stewart Recipe - "Salted Peanut Bars"


2 1/4 cups coarsely chopped roasted salted peanuts (I used cocktail peanuts & cashew pieces)

50 store bought soft caramel squares, unwrapped (14 oz)

1 cup mini marshmallows

Directions:

Lightly coat an 8 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Line with parchment & spray again. (I doubled the recipe and used a 13x9 inch pan with a foil lining, heavily sprayed). Cover with 1 1/4 cups peanuts.

Melt the caramels & the marshmallows with 1 tablespoon of water over medium heat until smooth. Immediately pour over the nuts in the pan. Then top with remaining nuts.

Let cool until set - about 2 hours. Then cut into bars. 
Store in an airtight container with parchment separating the layers for up to 2 days.