Trillionaire Cookie Bars (Shortbread, Salted Caramel, Chocolate Chip Cookie and Brownie)

My version of the Trillionaire cookie bar…

There does exist one out there, but it only makes sense, to me, that the Trillionaire cookie is built on top of the Billionaire cookie. So the difference between the two? The Trillionaire has a layer of brownie on top! The perfect balance of shortbread, salted caramel, chocolate chip cookies and chocolate, all is one bite!

Ingredients:

For Shortbread:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream

For Salted Caramel Sauce:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temperature and cut into tablespoon or smaller pieces)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream (at room temperature)
• 1/2 tablespoon of sea salt

For Chocolate Chip Cookie:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup minus 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoon heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups Ghirardelli chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon King Arthur espresso powder

For Chocolate Brownie:

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I prefer Ghirardelli cocoa powder)
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:

For Shortbread:

• Line a 8 inch by 8 inch pan with parchment paper.
• Preheat oven to 300F degrees.
• With paddle attachment to standing mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla extract and almond extract.
• Once well combined, add in flour.
• After flour is mixed with the butter and sugar mixture, add in the heavy cream and mix together.
• Place dough in pan and spread the dough to cover the entire pan and evenly spread around the pan.
• Bake in oven for about 30 minutes.
• Allow to cool completely.

For Salted Caramel Sauce:

• Evenly spread out the sugar in the heavy saucepan at medium-high heat with candy thermometer measuring the temperature.
• Use a wooden spatula or heat resistant spatula to stir as the sugar begins to melt (you can also use a wooden spoon or whisk, but a spatula allows you to easily scrap the bottom of the saucepan).
• The sugar will begin to form clumps, but it will eventually melt down to a thick liquid and brown in color as the temperature continues to rise.
• The sugar will start to turn into an amber color and once the sugar reaches 300-325 degrees, quickly take it off the stove (caramel can burn easily, so it is important to watch the temperature, it increases exponentially).
• Stir in the butter until completely melted.
• Stir in the heavy cream (if the heavy cream is still too cold, the sugar will start to clump – this will be fine soon).
• Place the saucepan back on the stove at slow heat and stir in salt.
• Continue to stir until the mixture is smooth
• At this point, you have salted caramel sauce!
• Depending on how thick you want the sauce to be, you can continue to cook the sauce down on low heat – the sauce will bubble, but not overflow as long as the heat is on low.
• Continue to stir while the sauce is on low heat.
• Usually I keep the sauce on the stove for another 5-10 minutes for a thicker sauce.
• Let the caramel sauce cool down for about one hour and pour about 2/3 cup to 3/4 of caramel sauce on the middle of shortbread. Spread the caramel evenly on top of the shortbread, but leave a half-inch perimeter along the edge.
• Place any unused amount on airtight container and keep in refrigerator. Use the rest for other treats or drizzle on top of the Trillionaire cookie when serving!

For Chocolate Chip Cookie:

• Sift together the flour, salt, espresso powder, baking soda and baking powder and set on side.
• Use a saucepan to brown the butter. Turn the stove heat to medium and allow the butter to crackle and start forming little brown bits. When the butter starts to brown, make sure to remove from heat quickly to avoid burning the butter.
• Pour the melted butter in the bowl to standing mixer with paddle attachment and add the sugars into the bowl.
• On medium speed, cream together the butter and sugars. It may take 2-3 minutes for the mixture to come together.
• Add the egg and egg yolk and mix until well combined.
• Add vanilla extract and then the heavy cream.
• Slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the bowl.
• • Note: I sift about half of the flour mixture into the bowl before turning on the mixture again.
• Stir in chocolate chips and mix well.
• Use the dough to first line the perimeter of the pan. This way the cookie dough prevents losing too much salted caramel from leaking down the side of the shortbread.
• Then use the cookie dough to cover the rest of the surface area. I didn’t use about 3/4 to 1 cup of cookie dough, so the top layer doesn’t get thicker than the shortbread. For the rest of the cookie dough, I rolled them up into balls and made about 6 cookies for myself.
• Place pan into freezer for at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Bake for 13-15 minutes until golden brown. If the cookie dough in the center still appears raw, keep the pan in the oven for another minute.
• Allow the cookie layer to cool completely.

For Chocolate Brownie:

• Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
• In separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients – flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder.
• In a saucepan, melt the butter or microwave butter until melted.
• Transfer butter to a mixing bowl to standing mixer with paddle attachment.
• On low speed, mix in sugar and once fully incorporated, add eggs one at a time until mixed together, and then add in vanilla extract.
• Once all wet ingredients are mixed together, slowly add in the dry ingredients until just combined.
• Pour brownie batter over the chocolate chip cookie and spread evenly.

• Optional addition, sprinkle chocolate chips over the batter.
• Bake in oven for approximately 25 minutes and should still be a little gooey.
• Once ready, let it sit until the cookie bar is completely cool (which could take several hours due to the density of the cookie bar, so I highly suggest covering with saran wrap and sticking it into the frig for half an hour) and then DIG RIGHT IN!!