Carmelitas are soft, chewy cookie bars packed with caramel and chocolate sandwiched between a buttery brown sugar and oatmeal crust/topping.
Ingredients
1cuplight brown sugar
1cupunsalted buttermelted
1teaspoonpure vanilla extract
⅛teaspoonpure almond extractoptional
1 ½cupall-purpose flour
1 ½cupold fashioned rolled oats
1teaspoonbaking soda
½teaspoonkosher salt
11ouncescaramel bitsor caramel squares
¼cupheavy whipping cream
1 ½cupssemi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
Add brown sugar, melted butter, vanilla extract, and almond extract to a large bowl and use a hand or stand mixer to beat on low to combine.
Add all-purpose flour, rolled oats, baking soda, and salt. Beat until the mixture is well combined and forms a crumbly dough.
Press about half of the dough evenly into the bottom of the baking dish and bake for 10 minutes (it may take a little more than half of the dough to cover the bottom).
Meanwhile, add the caramel and heavy cream to a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes and then stir. Continue microwaving in 30-second increments, stirring between each increment, until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
When the bottom layer of dough is done baking, remove from the oven and sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the top of the warm dough. Then pour the caramel sauce evenly over the chocolate chips, saving a small amount to use for topping the finished bars.
Crumble the remaining dough evenly over the top of the bars and bake the bars for 30 minutes, or until light golden brown.
Remove the bars from the oven and drizzle with the remaining caramel sauce. Allow the carmelitas to cool fully, then remove from the pan, slice into bars, and enjoy.
Notes
Allow your carmelitas to cool completely before cutting. This can take a few hours. If you cut them too soon, you will find that the caramel is extremely hot inside and very sticky. You may use the refrigerator to speed up the cooling until the caramel center has had time to become firm. Store bars in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.