Frito Bark

So say you need to make a dessert in a jiffy but all you have in the house is a bag of chocolate chips, butter, brown sugar, and a bag of Fritos (it could happen!). What do you do? You whip up a great little treat that everyone will love.

I got inspired to make this little ditty after reading Anna's recipe at Cookie Madness a long time ago. Her recipe has pretzels, Fritos, and peanut butter cups in it, which I'm sure if super yummy but I wanted to go even simpler (and avoid anything with nuts). The combination of the salty Fritos and the sweet caramel and chocolate is sublime. Plus its really fun to watch people eat it and try to figure out what's the crunchy part is.

Frito Candy

Half a bag of regular flavored Fritos (9.75 oz)
2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
1 cup of brown sugar, packed (light or dark)
1 12oz bag of chocolate chips (milk or semi sweet)

Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 400F.

Pour the Fritos into the prepared pan and crush slightly with the bottom of a glass or heavy bowl. Push the chips and chip fragments together so the there aren't any bare spots.

In a pan, over medium high heat, melt the butter and brown sugar together, mixing constantly with a wooden spoon. Bring to a slow boil for 3 minutes, continuing to stir constantly.

Slowly pour the molten caramel over the chips, evenly covering all the chips as best you can.

Put the pan into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. You should see the caramel bubbling up through the chips.

Turn off the oven. Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the chip and caramel. Wait a few minutes and spread the chocolate around the surface, being sure to get evenly coat the surface. If the chocolate chips are stubborn and won't melt evenly, put the pan back into the oven for a minute or two to soften the chips.

Put the pan into the fridge (or the freezer if you're really in a hurry) until set. Remove the candy from the parchment paper and put the whole thing onto a cutting board. Cut it with a heavy, sharp knife and serve.

Note that this does get a bit soft at room temperature, so be sure to keep cold.

Yield: Enough to feed about 10-12 people, with lots left over. It really depends on how big you cut the pieces.
Would I Make This Again? Yep! It's a little ghetto but sometimes that's just want is needed. It's a fun, low cost dessert that makes people happy. What's not to love? I bet this would be great sprinkled over a bowl of vanilla ice cream. 4 out of 5 stars!