Flawed, but has potential

Double Chocolate Candy Cashew Bars

1 package (18 oz) refrigerated chocolate chunk cookie dough

1 cup white baking chips

1 1/2 cups cashew halves and pieces

1/2 cup caramel topping

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/2 cup miniature candy-coated milk chocolate baking bits (from 12-oz bag)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.  Cut cookie dough into 1/2-inch slices.  Arrange slices in bottom of pan.  Press dough evenly to form crust.  Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until light golden brown.  

Sprinkle white baking chips and cashews over warm crust.  In small bowl, mix caramel topping and flour until smooth; drizzle over baking chips and cashews.  Sprinkle with milk chocolate baking bits; press lightly.  

Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until topping is bubbly.  Cool completely, 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours, before cutting.  For bars, cut into 6 rows by 6 rows.  36 bars.  

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): In step 1, bake 12 to 17 minutes.

You know that feeling when you try a new recipe for the first time and it comes out of the oven looking amazing and you feel so proud of yourself?  And then when you cut into it and you realize the middle is a gooey undercooked mess the only words the comes to mind are "oh crap"?  Well if not, then you should have been in my kitchen today. 

What a disaster.  I let these sit for two hours to cool completely and when I cut into them, I could immediately tell something was wrong.  And when I tried to get them out of the pan, my suspicions of failure were confirmed.  The middle was soggy and the entire pan was really greasy on the bottom.  I don't know why it didn't dawn on me that the directions for spraying the pan were weird.  You don't ever spray a cookie sheet when you're making cookies, so why would you need to spray a cake pan if you're using cookie dough for a crust?  Too bad this little nugget of wisdom didn't come to me before I started making these.  

After I got them all out of the pan, I put them on a cookie sheet and put them back in the oven for about 10 minutes hoping that would harden up the cookie dough on the bottom, but I think that only added to my troubles.  It just remelted the chocolate and the caramel so now the top and bottom were gooey.  So after they cooled a bit, I put them on a cooling rack.  Hopefully that will let some of the grease drip off and let them harden up a little.  

You can even see how much grease from the cooking spray was on the cookie sheet after I took them out of the oven for the last time.  Gross!  Despite my disaster, I think these could have potential as long as you don't spray your baking pan.  Seriously, what was I thinking.  This recipe was from Betty Crocker.  Makes me wonder if they actually test their recipes before they print them.