B was out of town for a few days, and of course, I got a craving for some baking. I had plans to visit my parents and bake when I was seeing them, but I knew that trying a new recipe, including one that involved something potentially messy like caramel and melted peanut butter, in my parents’ kitchen, may not be the best idea. But one in my kitchen – when B wasn’t home? Perfect!

OH em gee. These cookies are SO good. They’re super sweet, super sinful and super rich — you HAVE to make these. Good luck not eating the whole pan!

Chocolate, peanut butter, caramel oat bars

Here’s what you need:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1.25 cup oats
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 12 oz caramel candy (I bought them from Target) 
• 1/4 cup milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
• 2 c (about a 12 oz bag) chocolate chips
• 1/4 c smooth peanut butter

Here’s what you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease (or use cooking spray) a 9×13-inch baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, baking soda and butter. Mix it well until the texture is crumbly.
3. Divide batter in half. Press half into the bottom of the pan and bake this crust layer at 350 degrees for oven for 10 minutes.
4. While batter is baking, prepare the caramel layer. In a medium saucepan, combine the caramel candy and milk over low heat. Stir well as the caramels melt and caramel is thick and smooth.
5. When cooked, remove crust from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the top. Don’t turn off the oven yet!
6. Pour the melted caramel evenly over the chocolate and top with the remaining flour-oat crumbly batter.
7. Warm up peanut butter in microwave. Drizzle peanut butter over flour-oat crumble.
8. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.
9. Cool before cutting into bars. Enjoy!!!