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Chocolate, peanut butter, caramel oat bars

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 oatmeal caramel cookie bars

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!!!
crumbly batter
crumbly batter
heating the caramel with almond milk
heating the caramel with almond milk
cooking the caramel
cooking the caramel
Top the cooked crust with chocolate chips (then caramel and crumbly topping)
Top the cooked crust with chocolate chips (then caramel and crumbly topping)
drizzle melted peanut butter on top of the crumble
drizzle melted peanut butter on top of the crumble
cut into bars when cool
cut into bars when cool .. and enjoy!

7 responses to “Chocolate, peanut butter, caramel oat bars”

  1. Rosie @ Blueberry Kitchen Avatar

    Oh yum, these sound amazing!

  2. Jess @ Jess{ly} in Cleveland Avatar

    Oh my god, those look amazing! Yummm.

  3. Greg Avatar

    I can taste the passion.

    1. Melissa (I Crashed the Web) Avatar

      Want me to mail you some? 🙂

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I’m Melissa

Welcome to I Crashed The Web — proof that I’ve been oversharing online since the early days of blogging. It started as a blog (back when that was cool), morphed into a mom blog (when that was cool), and now it’s my happy place for all the things I love: running, baking, reading, traveling and life with my family of five.

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