Description
Delicious Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Oat Cookie Bars featuring homemade salted caramel layered over oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough and topped with nuts and sea salt. These bars combine rich caramel, melty chocolate chips, and a nutty oat cookie base for a perfect sweet treat.
Ingredients
Scale
Homemade Salted Caramel
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar (150g)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp water (90g)
- 4 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, sliced
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp heavy cream, room temperature (100g)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Hefty pinch kosher salt
- 7 tbsp all purpose flour (60g)
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
- 1 cup quick oats (95g)
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour (165g)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (110g)
- 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed (210g)
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (85g)
- 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips (130g)
- 3/4 cup walnuts or pecans, finely chopped (95g)
For Finishing
- Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Prepare Caramel Ingredients: Gather all caramel ingredients and ensure heavy cream is at least room temperature to prevent seizing. Warm it in the microwave if needed.
- Make Caramel Base: Add water and sugar to a heavy-bottomed saucepan and gently stir to mix evenly without splashing sugar on sides. Heat over medium without stirring until sugar dissolves completely and turns from clear to light golden, then rich amber, gently nudging if browning unevenly.
- Add Butter and Cream: Remove from heat once amber, whisk in sliced butter immediately. Slowly pour in heavy cream while whisking continuously until smooth.
- Add Flavorings and Thicken: Whisk in vanilla extract and kosher salt, return to medium heat and let bubble for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in flour thoroughly. Set aside to cool while preparing cookie dough.
- Preheat and Prepare Baking Dish: Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and line an 8×8 inch baking dish with parchment paper, covering all sides.
- Mix Dry Ingredients: In medium bowl, whisk together oats, flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a large bowl, cream the softened butter and dark brown sugar until smooth by hand or with electric mixer.
- Add Eggs and Vanilla: Mix in the large egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract until fully combined.
- Combine Dough: Add dry ingredients to wet mixture and mix just until combined. Before finishing incorporation, fold in 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips.
- Form Base Layer: Spread about two-thirds of the cookie dough evenly on the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Evenly sprinkle the finely chopped nuts over this base layer.
- Bake Base: Bake the base for 8 minutes in the oven. Meanwhile, refrigerate the leftover dough.
- Add Toppings: Remove partially baked crust and evenly sprinkle the remaining dark chocolate chips over it.
- Pour Caramel: Pour the homemade caramel evenly over the chocolate chips. If caramel has thickened too much, gently reheat on stove to loosen before pouring.
- Add Remaining Dough: Drop spoonfuls of the refrigerated leftover cookie dough randomly over the caramel layer.
- Bake Final Bars: Bake the assembled bars for 25 minutes or until lightly golden on top.
- Cool and Chill: Allow bars to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes, then chill in refrigerator for about 1 hour to set.
- Serve: Use a knife to loosen edges if needed to release bars from pan. Lift out the bars, sprinkle with flaky sea salt, then cut into 16 bars for serving.
Notes
- Use room temperature heavy cream to avoid caramel seizing; warm slightly if needed.
- Carefully watch sugar as it caramelizes; uneven browning can be adjusted by gently stirring.
- Line baking pan thoroughly with parchment paper for easier removal of bars.
- Chilling the bars after baking helps them set and slice more cleanly.
- Walnuts or pecans can be substituted based on preference or omitted for nut-free version.
- If caramel thickens too much, gently rewarming can restore pourability.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 320 kcal
- Sugar: 24 g
- Sodium: 150 mg
- Fat: 18 g
- Saturated Fat: 9 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 7 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 36 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Cholesterol: 45 mg
