Salted Chocolate Caramel Bars

"Confession: this recipe is totally outside my comfort zone. Totally. It has a shortbread base and a made-from-scratch caramel topping. Neither of which I've ever even attempted before. That said, I'm always up for a new challenge and these Salted Chocolate Caramel Bars turned out really delicious. Also, learning how to make shortbread (surprisingly simple) was really fun! Did you know shortbread is only three ingredients? Flour, butter, and sugar. Four (cocoa powder) if you want to make it chocolate. I was so surprised to learn it has no egg! I was also confounded by the way it comes together. You beat it and beat it and beat it, and it looks like it will never come together and then... all of the sudden... BOOM. It's dough! Weirdest thing. But also, really cool."