So delicious – these Carmelitas have gooey caramel and chocolate pressed between two oatmeal layers. You won’t believe how easy they are, either!
If you are like me and always on the lookout for a great dessert for potlucks, look no further than these Easy Carmelitas. These cookie bars are always a crowd favorite and first to go. Because who can resist gooey caramel and chocolate?
HOW TO MAKE CARMELITAS
There are a lot of versions of these bars out there online, but I love how easy this one is. Here are you basic steps to make these irresistible bars.
The Crust
The crust on these Carmelitas are pulling double duty – acting as both the crust and the topping.
Start by combining all of the ingredients and then mixing them on low in your stand mixer until the mixture is crumbly. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can do this by hand, it will just take a bit longer.
Take about 3 cups of the crumb mixture and set it aside.
The remaining mixture gets pressed into the bottom of a greased or parchment lined baking dish. This crust will get partially baked.
The Filling
One thing that sets these apart from many of the others is that you are just using jarred caramel ice cream topping for the filling. While I’m never opposed to homemade, these cookies show you that those shortcuts are sometimes totally valid.
Take your jarred ice cream topping and stir in 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour to thicken it up a bit.
Once your crust is partially baked, remove it from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips on top. Carefully drizzle the caramel over the top, then top it all off with the rest of the crumb crust mixture.
Bake it again, this time until the topping is golden brown.
TIPS FOR MAKING THESE COOKIE BARS
- I like to use parchment paper to line the pan so that they are easier to remove from the pan and cut them into bars.
- These don’t take a lot of hands on time, but figure in a good amount of time for cooling. They’ll need to cool for about an hour after they come out of the oven. And then you’ll refrigerate them for 1-2 hours, until the caramel has set up.
- I think these taste the best when they are at room temperature, but they are also pretty tasty straight from the fridge.
MORE COOKIE BAR RECIPES
Oatmeal Fudge Bars
Lunch Lady Bars
Caramel Brownies
Caramel Snickerdoodle Bars
Peaches and Cream Bars
Peanut Mallow Bars
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Easy Carmelitas
Ingredients
Crust:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups quick cooking oats
- 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
- 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter softened
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoons salt
Filling:
- 12.25 oz jar caramel ice cream topping
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Line a 9×13-inch baking pan with parchment paper or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, butter, baking soda and salt. Mix at low speed until the mixture is crumbly.
- Reserve 3 cups of the crust mixture. Press the remaining mixture firmly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
- While the crust is baking, combine the caramel and flour and stir until smooth.
- Remove the crust from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top. Drizzle evenly with the caramel mixture. Sprinkle the reserved crust mixture evenly over the top.
- Return the pan to the oven and baking for an additional 18-22 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 1 hour, then transfer to the refrigerator to set the filling for 1 to 2 hours.
- Cut into bars and serve.
Karen says
Could I use caramel syrup instead of ice cream topping or are they the same?
Deborah says
Caramel syrup is usually thinner, so it might be too runny.
grace says
these are an absolute favorite, and it matters not to me that they make use of store-bought caramel. all the flavor, a fraction of the labor. 🙂
Monet says
Delicious! I’m certainly tempted! Thank you for sharing with me tonight. You injected my day with creativity and beauty. I hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow, my dear friend! Hugs and love from Austin.
Kim says
Oh my goodness! I can tell you right now that I would be VERY tempted to eat the whole pan of these. Holy cow do they look great!
Lauren at Keep It Sweet says
Desserts are my biggest weakness while trying to lose weight… these seem to be worth a few extra pounds, though!
Averie (LoveVeggiesandYoga) says
these are 100% my kinda food:
oatmeal/crumbles rock my world
and so does caramel.
Deb, these are perfect!!!
Tessa says
I love these things. The are so good! I have to have somewhere to take them as well because I always want “just a little bit more” 🙂
whitney isetta says
A friend of mine makes these all the time… However, when she was in college she changed the name of these yummy treats. She calls them “Man Catching Cookies” 🙂 I think the name is pretty fitting since most men swoon over the lovely lady that bakes up these delish treats.
Jaida says
OMG – these look/sound amazing!! As soon as I am done with this detox diet, they are the first item on my baking list!!!
Katrina says
These look so lovely. Beauty recipe.
Joanne says
Oh I definitely know how you feel…I can’t go a week without baking. So I’m super good 6 out of 7 days and then I bake. I figure it’s a pretty fair deal. These carmelitas sound amazing!
Maria says
I love these! Great treat!