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
Yield: 24 servings
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
Directions:
- FOR the Caramel Sauce, melt butter in medium saucepan on medium heat. Add sugar; cook and stir with wire whisk 5 to 6 minutes or until mixture turns a deep amber color and temperature reaches 235°F on candy thermometer. Carefully stir in cream, vanilla, Ancho Chile and sea salt. (Mixture will be bubbly.) Whisking constantly, cook 1 to 2 minutes until sauce thickens and coats back of spoon. Let stand 5 minutes or until slightly thickened.
- MEANWHILE, for the Bars, mix flour, Ancho Chile, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside. Mix butter and sugars in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add flour mixture; mix just until moistened. Stir in chocolate chunks. Reserve 1 cup of the batter. Spread remaining batter in foil-lined 13x9-inch baking pan sprayed with no stick cooking spray. Bake in preheated 325°F oven 15 minutes.
- POUR Caramel Sauce over baked layer in pan, spreading to within 1/2 inch of edges. Drop reserved 1 cup batter by spoonfuls over caramel layer. Cut through batter with knife several times for a marble effect.
- BAKE 25 to 30 minutes longer or until top is golden brown and center is set. Cool in pan on wire rack. Use foil handles to remove dessert from pan. Place on cutting board and cut into bars.
**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.
Welcome to my cozy corner where baking meets random thoughts and musings. I’m a self-taught baker sharing all things sweet (and some savory—okay, and cocktails) with a whisk in one hand and a camera in the other. 
Oooh I love this concept! What a fabulous idea and portion control too
Haha portion control never works for me…. Simply love the idea; too much caramel is never enough.
Ohhhhh these look delicious. I love the sound of these ingredients together, never had that pepper before, is it very hot/spicy?
Also love your photography…you actually show how thin the bar was sliced. Now I have to ask, what size bars did you cut them into before you sliced the bar into skinny slices? Too clever! Thanks.
I am so glad you didn’t listen to your doctor and made that caramel sauce. I want to pour that on everything…face included.
Go big or go home right?
Gorgeous photos as always! Pinned
This look amazing
For some reason I’ve never thought of chocolate chip and caramel sauce, I have to make these
Forgot to ask this on earlier comment.
Did you use chips or chunks? If using chunks did you have trouble slicing thin through big chunks?
Naomi this is gorgeous and the sauce absolutely drippily delicious!
These sound great and I love both the dripping caramel shot and the use of chilies in the caramel!
Bring on the cookie dunkers! Love this Naomi!!
I LOVE Trader Joe’s cookie dunkers. And to be honest, these look 100 times better
Especially with that chile powder!
I love cookie dunkers and with that amazing caramel sauce, it must be out of this world amazing!
Yum, I love the sweet and spicy combo, especially with caramel.
Whats better than cookies? Cookies dunked in sauces like these…
My whole life is calorie pumpers. The end.
xo
ALSO: I looked up fluffers. You dirty girl!
Naomi Robinson replied: — March 21st, 2014 @ 11:58 am
Hilarious, right!!
DessertForTwo replied: — March 21st, 2014 @ 11:59 am
Foodies are the biggest perverts I know. And I love that.
Yeah, I’m down! I’d like a few of these!!
How can you put a pregnant women on a diet? That is just not right and I am so glad you see that!
These dunkers are perfection and the caramel is a must!
Diet be damned, all I want is a dunker (with that side of caramel!).
The last two pictures are so perfecto!!! 😀 Love the composition and story it tells–like…you’re def. not going on a full-on diet, haha. I truly do hope things go well for you and little one! <33
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julia replied: — March 22nd, 2014 @ 7:01 pm
Wondering why you haven’t answered my questions above.
1. Was it difficult to cut thin slices through the chocolate chunks….would it be easier to use chocolate chips.
2. What size pieces did you cut from the 9×13 pan and then slice into thin slices?
Did you have success using measurements you listed for the caramel sauce? I tried twice and failed. When I looked at the original recipe, measurements are different.
Need your help with this!
Have baked it for over an hour yet the middle is not set?What do i do?