I mean, let’s get real. Do these bars look like they even need any words to convince you how amazing they are?
Well, they don’t but since I can’t hand deliver one to each of you, let me tell you about these little lovers. If you start with a graham cracker crust, you really can’t go wrong from there. Then how about adding homemade caramel?? Now top that off with chocolate ganache and some smoked sea salt. Oooh, oooh, oooh. These are so naughty, but oh so nice.
I love graham crackers. S’mores, graham crackers smeared with Nutella, graham cracker crust: I’ll take it all. I don’t even particularly like cheesecake, but if it has a graham cracker crust, I will have a piece and just eat the crust. It’s just so buttery and subtly sweet. I love that the ratio of crust in these unbelievable bars is equal to the other delicious layers. It’s about time a graham cracker crust gets to shine as a leading role in a dessert, don’t you think?
Sometimes making homemade caramel can be challenging. But this perfectly velvety caramel is so easy to make! It’s the perfect chewiness-not so soft that it oozes everywhere, but not so stiff that it might pull the fillings out of your teeth either!
Finally, a thick luscious layer of semi-sweet chocolate ganache. I love the way a little bit of coffee added to chocolate can enhance and intensify the flavor of the chocolate exponentially and that’s exactly what you get with this coffee-spiked ganache. As if that’s not special enough, what makes this topping especially unique is the smoked sea salt sprinkles! A little salt to balance the sweet.
Have I convinced you yet? Just be a little naughty and make the bars already!
Coffee-spiked Chocolate Caramel Bars
Keywords: bake dessert chocolate caramel bar
Ingredients
For the crust
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 12 graham crackers crushed
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 sticks (12 Tbsp) unsalted butter, melted
For the caramel
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 stick (8 Tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
For the ganache
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 1/2 tsp instant coffee, finely ground
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp smoked sea salt (optional; if you do not use the smoked sea salt, increase the plain sea salt to 1 tsp total)
Instructions
For the crust
Line bottom of 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Spray paper and sides of pan with cooking spray.
Position oven rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350°.
In a food processor, pulse graham crackers and sugar together. Add melted butter and blend until the mixture forms into clumps.
Press mixture gently into prepared pan to form an even layer.
Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden. Cool 15 minutes.
For the caramel
In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients. Stir over medium heat until smooth. Bring mixture to a boil and cook without stirring until candy thermometer reaches soft ball (240°).
Pour caramel over graham cracker crust. Cool 20 minutes, then place in freezer for 10 minutes until firm.
For the ganache
Place chocolate chips and cream into small glass or metal bowl and place bowl over pan with simmering water. Stir until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in coffee.
Remove pan from freezer, pour chocolate over caramel layer. and smooth with spatula. Sprinkle with sea salt and refrigerate at least one hour.
Cut into desired sized bars and enjoy!
(Recipe adapted from Giada DeLaurentiis)
graham cracker crust pressed into prepared pan
baked graham cracker crust
heat caramel mixture
until it reaches 240° 
pour caramel over graham cracker crust
melt chocolate and cream together
stir coffee into chocolate mixture and pour over caramel layer
sprinkle with sea salt
Come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by Scharffen Berger.
48 Comments
Wow! These are right up my alley. I bet the smoked sea salt adds that unique taste that puts these right over the top!
Tanya
http://Www.3-square meals.com
You’re right! The smoked sea salt is what makes these the perfectly unique sweet and salty combination!
These look like…well just pure heaven really! I am definitely hoping to give these a try, will be dreaming of them until i do!
Thanks Sasha! They really are quite amazing! Let me know if you try them!
these look absolutely amazing!!!
Thanks Megan! They were pretty spectacular!
BEAUTIFUL pictures Merc!! Wow!
I want these bars in my belly. I might make them this weekend actually!
Yay! Let me know if you do make them! They are fantastic!
W.O.W. These look wonderful!
Thanks Nikki! They were pretty amazing!
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Those look perfect!
Oh you are too kind! Thank you!
Shoot, you had me at coffee. Then at Chocolate. Then at caramel. No convincing needed here. This s a done deal!
I know there really is nothing bad about these bars! Thanks Julia!
I’m with you on the graham cracker crust – It’s my favorite part of any piece of pie that has it! And these caramel bars sound simple amazing =)
Glad I’m not the only crust-lover! Thanks Peggy!
omg amazing
Thank you Alison!
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Do these need to be refrigerated all the time, or only until firm?
I’d love to take them on vacation with friends but wondered if the caramel would run on the day long drive in a cooler.
I’ll have to try these even if they won’t travel well-they sound so very yummy.
I think the bars would travel well in a cooler Karen. I would refrigerate or even freeze them before putting them in the cooler and storing them in a single layer would be best. They are definitely a crowd pleaser! I hope you enjoy them!
Saw the link to these on Brown Eyed Baker- they look amazing! I’ll be looking for an excuse to make these soon:-)
Thanks Lauren! These bars are pretty amazing! I hope you give them a try and love them as much as I did!
omg! This looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it!
Thank you! I hope you do give them a try, they are so good!
These triple layer bars look blissful! I would love if you added this and any other links to my “Happy Post” today. http://su.pr/1bZ8fp
Maria, I’m sorry, I did not get to your comment unitl today (I am at our family lake cabin with limited technology access!), but let me know if you would still like me to add the bars to your “Happy Post” today! Thank you and have a great Labor Day!
I’m going to make these this week! They look delicious. What is the trick to cutting the bars so they look perfect like your pictures? Usually the top layer smears into the layer below and so on. Any advise would be appreciated!
I refrigerated them overnight and then used a large chef’s knife to cut them. Also, I wiped the blade off between each cut to prevent the smearing that you mentioned! I hope that helps and you enjoy them!
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Hi, love your websight!! Tried to make these bars and the 12 Grahams, 1/4 cup sugar , and stick and a half of butter seemed like way to much butter. The butter dripped out of the springform on to the oven bottom and it took way longer to bake to get it to set. Is that the right ratio of butter or did I do something wrong? Any tips? They tasted good, way good, but the crust ended up almost like a toffee(crunchy). Any help would be appreciated:-)
Hello Janice! Thanks for reading! I used 1 1/2 sticks of butter and the crust was certainly moist, but I did not have the problem with it leaking or running everywhere. I’m sorry to hear about your experience with that! I feel that you could reduce the butter in the crust to 1 stick without any trouble. Let me know if you try them again with this modification and if it solves your problem. I’m glad they still tasted good!
I was just wondering if the springform pan is necessary for these bars. I would like to make them for a family get together this weekend but don’t want to have to go buy new bakeware if I don’t have to!
Thank you!
Hi Emily! I don’t think the springform pan is absolutely necessary for these bars. If you don’t want to use that type of pan, I would recommend a square pan and I would line it with parchment paper with the sides hanging over so that the bars are easy to remove, cut and serve. I hope that helps and that you enjoy the bars!
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I absolutely need these in my life. Will be trying them out soon, VERY soon!
Thanks for inspiring a teen cook!
Oh you are so sweet and just made my day! Let me know if you make the bars and if you liked them! They really are quite simple and so delicious! Thanks for reading!
These were GREAT. Everyone that had them (which was quite a number of people in my apartment building) LOVED them and are asking me to make them again!
Thanks for the great recipe!
Yay! It makes me so happy to hear that the recipe was successful for you and that the bars were a hit! Thanks for letting me know!
I made the cookies and got good responses. But ran into some problems during preparation. Where I live (Israel) we dont have Graham crackers , I used the caramel cookies (Lotus) but I did not know what is the right amount of cookies. Here, a stick of butter weights 100 grams, I do not know what your stick of butter weights. What cup size do you use? i use 250 cc. It will help if you use weights (grams) instead of stick, cups etc. it would be easier to translate the recipe and make it right. I guessed the measurements and I’m not sure that’s it was right .
When I made the caramel i cooked it to a temperature of 110 degrees Celsius but after cooling when we ate the cookies we felt the grains of crystallized sugar caramel, Do you know what caused it? The Caramel in your images looks soft but not crystallized. I hope my english is ok.
Anyway, people liked thos bars.
Me and salted desserts have a thing for each other. These look incredible – that layer of caramel in calling my name. Thanks so much for linking them up in the Holiday Recipe Exchange!
I know, the sweet/salty combination is irresistible isn’t it? I’m excited about the Holiday Recipe Exchange that you are hosting!
These were absolutely FABULOUS.
AMAZING. DELICIOUS. RIDICULOUSLY YUMMY.
No other words to describe them! I have one batch cooling (I’ve made three total since commenting), and have never had such rave reviews. I brought them to school with me and literally ANYONE and EVERYBODY who tried them bit into them with a look of sheer ecstasy. People came up to me asking to try them because one of their friends who had tried one had told them they were crazy good.
Thank you so much for the recipe! This is a new favorite of mine.
If you could, could you recommend any other of your favorite recipes? I’d love to try them!
Thank you so much Christine! I’m glad that the bars have been such a hit! I will send you an email soon with other recommended favorite recipes! Thanks again for reading and for the nice comment!
These were absolutely FABULOUS.
AMAZING. DELICIOUS. RIDICULOUSLY YUMMY.
No other words to describe them! I have one batch cooling (I’ve made three total since commenting), and have never had such rave reviews. I brought them to school with me and literally ANYONE and EVERYBODY who tried them bit into them with a look of sheer ecstasy. People came up to me asking to try them because one of their friends who had tried one had told them they were crazy good.
Thank you so much for the recipe! This is a new favorite of mine.
If you could, could you recommend any other of your favorite recipes? I’d love to try them!
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