FWIW, I made a sweet-salty caramel/chocolate/shortbread bar to take to a client this week and they flipped over it more than they have any other sweet treat I've taken them (which have been many). So I'll bet those bars would be a huge hit with everyone, Jean, regardless of age.
I used this recipe:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/thousand-dollar-bars-recipe recipe for the crust and chocolate layers (didn't need the shortening), and then this one
http://annies-eats.net/2011/09/09/salted-caramel-chocolate-shortbread-bars/for the caramel layer (because the KAF recipe calls for purchased caramel and I wanted to do homemade; this version uses sweetened condensed milk, so I still cheated a tad, but worked really well).
The nice things about a bar like this are that they are rich so small pieces are plenty and don't make you feel even more stuffed after dinner; they are bars, yet because of the caramel layer have an elegant look/feel to them; and it makes so many, you could take a plate for everyone to have that night and even package up 4 or 5 squares each in little ribboned bags for each family to take home. Or freeze half for later. Oh -- and I did just salt the top of half of them, for people that preferred all sweet without the salt.
Emilie
