Snickery Squares

.  Eeek!  Super Bowl weekend has finally arrived and uh, I have quite a bit to get done!  Why do things always seem to creep up on me like this?

At the request of a couple of our friends [cough, Hollyann/Brandon, cough], Robbie and I will be hosting a small, small Super Bowl get-together this Sunday, filled with lotsa food and [hopefully] one dang good football game.  We had some people over last year as well and apparently they had an okay time, because they wanted to do it again.  Honestly, I think Robbie and I are quite boring but I'm glad our friends don't think so :)

But now that I think about it, maybe it has nothing to do with Robbie and I?  Maybe it has to do with the fact that Hollyann and I [try to] pull out all of the stops for our friendly gatherings, conjuring up a spread for two weeks 24/7 of delicious foods that we don't normally get and making sure we tell each and every one of our potential guests what we'll be having.  Ha, talk about bribing our way into friendships.

We decided that we're going all out Mexi-themed this year.  Yes, Mexi.  Hollyann was all about it because she has some great homemade recipes from her mom that she's eager to share and I would never turn down an opporunity to gorge munch on anything related to Mexican cuisine.  I've been told by my parents more than once in my life that I'm a Mexican at heart.  So here's our spread:

Nacho Bar

Homemade Tamales

Homemade Refried Beans

Homemade Guacamole

Pina Colada Dip

Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars

Pie [TBD, any suggestions?!]

Oh yeah, did I mention we're having a max of seven people over?  Looks like we're going to have some leftovers.  But can you blame us, Hollyann and I rarely have the opportunity to plan 'events' like this, so like I said, we go all out.  We love doing it and we just want to make sure the boys don't go hungry.  Yeah, that's our excuse.  The boys.

But anywho, I realize many of you haven't been obsessing over a Super Bowl spread the last few weeks, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to share an All-American goodie for one of America's greatest past times: Snickey Squares!

I made these little candy bar-esque goodie for Robbie to take into work last Saturday.  Uh huh, Saturday.  I think I mentioned this before, but Robbie is officially in 'busy' season and Saturday's are not off limits for work.  So ever since he started his job, I brought it upon myself to start a little tradition to make something for him to bring into the office every weekend.  Just a little sugary snack to brighten up those accountants' days.

Now I must warn you, these are not straight up Snickers Bars as they do not contain any nougat (boo hoo).  Rather, the shortbread crust is topped with a filling of gooey dulce de leche and candied peanuts, and finished with a generous layer of chocolate and more candied peanuts.  I think a more accurate title would be 'The Cousin of Snickers' Squares.

So for those of you still lacking a sweet in your Super Bowl Sunday meal, why not take a chance with these babies?  I mean, whoever went wrong with a Snickers? 

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, Robbie and I have much to do in preparation for the big game, so I'll see you all next week!  .

My Notes:

• I personally thought these are the absolute best straight out of the refrigerator.  Otherwise when they're room temperature, they had a tendency to kind of fall apart.

Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 c. all purpose flour
3/4 c. sugar
2 tbsp. powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten

Filling:
1/3 c. sugar
3 tbsp. water
1 c. salted peanuts
1 can dulce de leche

Topping:
7 oz. semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F.  Spray 8-inch square pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Set aside.
2. For crust, put the flour, sugar, powdered sugar, and salt into food processor and pulse a few times to combine.  Add cold butter pieces and pulse until mixture looks like coarse meal.  Pour the yolk over the mixture and pulse until dough forms clumps and curds (stop before the dough comes together in a ball).
3. Turn out the dough to the prepared pan and gently press evenly across the bottom.  Prick the dough all over with a fork.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until the crust takes on just a little color around the edges.  Transfer pan to rack and cool to room temperature before filling.
4. For filling, set aside a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Put the sugar and water in a saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.  Keeping the heat fairly high, continue to cook, without stirring, until it just starts to color.  Toss in the peanuts and immediately start stirring to coat the peanuts.  The sugar-covered peanuts will turn white and keep stirring until the sugar turns back to caramel.  Remove the pan from the heat and turn out the peanuts onto the prepared baking sheet and spread in a even layer.  Cool peanuts to room temperature.
5. When cool, separate the peanuts into smaller pieces.  Divide the peanuts in half and finely chop one half of the peanuts for the topping.  Spread the dulce de leche over the crust and sprinkle with whole candied peanuts.  Gently press the peanuts into the filling.
6. For topping, melt together the chocolate and butter in microwave.  Pour the chocolate over the filling, smoothing evenly with a spatula.  Sprinkle over finely chopped candied peanuts. Refrigerate the pan for 20 minutes to let topping set before cutting.

Yield: 16 bars