Snickery Squares

Preheat the oven to 350℉. Butter the bottom and sides of a 8-inch metal baking pan. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extend up two sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. Place another piece of parchment paper in the same manner, perpendicular to the first sheet. (This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan). Butter the parchment.

To make the crust: In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse flour, granulated sugar, confectioners’ sugar and salt to combine. Remove cover of food processor and sprinkle the butter evenly over the dry ingredients. Cover and process with 12 1-second pulses, until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Pour the yolk over the ingredients and pulse until the dough forms clumps and curds – stop before the dough comes together in a ball.

Transfer the dough to the prepared pan and gently press it evenly across the bottom of the pan. Prick the dough all over with a fork. Place baking pan on top of a baking sheet and bake in the center of the oven for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the filling, line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the sugar and water to a boil swirling the pan gently, until the sugar has dissolved. Cook, gently swirling the pan occasionally, until it starts to color. Add the peanuts and immediately start stirring. Keep stirring, to coat the peanuts with the sugar. Within a few minutes, they will be covered with sugar and turn white – keep stirring until the sugar turns back into caramel. When the peanuts are coated with a nice deep amber caramel, remove the pan from the heat and turn the nuts out onto the baking sheet, using the wooden spoon to spread them out as best you can. Cool the nuts to room temperature. When the nuts are cool enough to handle, separate the nuts or break them into small pieces. Divide the nuts in half. Keep half of the nuts whole or in large pieces for the filling, and finely chop the other half for the topping.

Spread the dulce de leche over the cooled shortbread crust. Sprinkle with candied peanuts.

To make the topping, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Remove the chocolate from the heat and gently stir in the butter, stirring until it is fully blended into the chocolate.

Pour the chocolate over the dulce de leche, smoothing it with a long metal icing spatula, then sprinkle the finely chopped candied peanuts on top. Place the pan in the refrigerator to set the topping, about 20 minutes; if you’d like to serve the squares cold, keep them refrigerated for at least 3 hours before cutting.

Cut into 16 bars. Store covered for 2 days at room temperature, or refrigerate for 5 days.