Caramel Pecan Bars
A buttery crust and a layer of gooey caramel studded with pecans and chocolate chips make these caramel pecan bars one irresistible dessert.
Servings 24 bars
Ingredients
- 1 bag individually wrapped caramels 11 ounces (about 35 caramels), unwrapped
- 5 tablespoons heavy cream
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 ½ cups packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ¼ cups unsalted butter melted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
- ¾ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line (1) 9x13 inch baking pan with foil, leaving about 1 inch of the foil extending over the edges of the pan. The extra foil will create handles that you can use to lift the caramel bars from the pan. Spray foil with nonstick cooking spray. Set pan aside.
- In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt together the caramels and heavy cream, stirring occasionally until smooth.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir together the melted butter and vanilla extract. Add butter and vanilla mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Press half the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan to form a crust layer.
- Bake crust in preheated oven for 8 minutes. Remove and sprinkle crust with with chocolate chips and pecans. Pour the caramel mixture over the top and then crumble the remaining crust mixture on top of the caramel.
- Place caramel bars back into preheated oven and bake for an additional 13-15 minutes. Place pan on cooling rack and cool completely. Once bars are cooled to room temperature, I recommend placing the pan into the refrigerator for a couple of hours. This will enable you to cut the bars with ease. Allow bars to come to room temperature before serving.
Notes
If unwrapping the individual caramels is not accessible for you, you can use an 11-ounce bag of Kraft Caramel Bits instead.