Carmelitas cookie bars filled with a layer of chocolate and caramel. Make a 9-by-13-inch pan and mainly with pantry ingredients, this recipe is foolproof for the beginner baker.
Prepare a 9-by-13-inch baking pan by spraying with cooking spray and lining with parchment so two ends hang over. Clip with metal binder clips if desired.
Heat oven to 350ºF.
Unwrap caramel candies and place in a medium saucepan with the heavy cream. Heat, stirring, over medium-high heat, until caramels are melted, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda, salt, brown sugar and oats. Add the butter and with a mixer or your clean hands, mix the butter into the dry ingredients until a soft, but crumbly dough forms.
Transfer half the dough to the prepared pan and gently pat into an even layer on the bottom of the pan. Bake until just turning light golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Don't over-bake.
Remove bottom crust from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Carefully pour melted caramel over the chocolate in an even layer. Crumble the remaining dough over the top of the caramel.
Bake cookie bars another 18 to 20 minutes, until the top crust is just turning golden and cooked. It shouldn't be doughy.
Let cookie bars cool completely, or until barely warm and firmed. Use a spatula to release the caramelized edges from the pan and then lift the bars out using the parchment paper.
On a cutting board, trim caramelized edges if desired, or just cut into 16 squares.
Bars can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or wrapped tightly and frozen for up to a month.
Video
Notes
What soft caramels to use: There are two brands of soft caramel candies that are readily available and work well for Carmelitas.
Kraft square caramels and Werther's soft or chewy caramels. Both brands are great to use, but the caramels are different sizes.
I use 14 ounces of caramels. That's about 50 Kraft caramels and 58 Werther's caramels.
For this recipe, I like to line a 9-by-13-inch baking dish or pan with parchment paper so that clean-up is easy and mess-free.
If you don't have pre-cut parchment sheets, cut your parchment so that a couple of inches hang off two edges. This will make it easy to lift the bars out of the pan once they're baked.
Spray the bottom of the pan with cooking spray before I add the parchment. You can fold down the loose ends and tack them down with oven-safe binder clips, but you don't need to.
After you take the Carmelitas out of the oven, let them cool before removing them from the pan. If you'd like, you can cut off the crunchy edges so your bars are soft and decadent. I personally like the crunchy edges, though.