Chocolate Chunk Dunkers

Do you know what happens when someone tells me “no”? I turn into a child. I find away to still do it. Now of course, if someone told me I could die form doing it, then it’s different.

But if you tell me I had better go on a diet (ahem, doctor), I’m probably not going to adhere to that, especially since the baby is not in danger. I’m still having my sweets, just in smaller doses and less frequently—like with these chocolate chunk dunkers—a  compromise.

 

They are actually chocolate chunk blondie bars with a spicy caramel sauce (original recipe here).  I made them according to the recipe, but then thinly sliced one bar up for a day-long snacking consumption. Surprisingly, I didn’t miss eating one whole bar in a single mouthful (a bit of an exaggeration, but not far off—and what a visual, right?).

And sure, I probably could have skipped the caramel dip, but why—especially since, as I mentioned, the spicy caramel sauce makes this, so I doubled that caramel recipe and saved the second portion for dipping!

See what I mean about being told  “no” in this instance? I found my work-around—it’s  all about pacing. With that, I decided to re-market these as dunkers rather than calling them bars.

You eat this how you want, but there’s no shame in having it by the mouthful or as wafers and dunking it in caramel, chocolate, coffee, milk, beer or any other calorie pumpers you can find. Enjoy!

Chocolate Chunk Dunkers

Ingredients:

Recipe from McCormick

Salted Ancho Chile  Caramel Sauce:

•    1/4 cup butter, cut into chunks
•    3/4 cup granulated sugar
•    1/3 cup heavy cream
•    1 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract
•    2 teaspoons McCormick® Gourmet Ancho Chile Pepper,
•    1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Gourmet Sicilian Sea Salt

Chocolate Chunk Bars:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon McCormick® Gourmet Ancho Chile Pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup  butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
•  3 eggs
•  2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks

**Note:

• The original recipe  suggests  substituting  McCormick® Gourmet Ancho Chile Pepper, using 2 teaspoons in the Caramel Sauce and 1 teaspoon in the Chocolate Chunk Bars,  if you are unable to source dried guajillo chilies. Guajillo chilies a staple in Mexican cooking. They are available in in Latin markets, online specialty stores or the Latin aisle of some supermarkets.  If you are able to find them, follow the notes in the link to see how to roast and use them in this recipe.

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