Description
Delicious Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Oat Cookie Bars featuring a rich homemade salted caramel layer sandwiched between oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough, topped with nuts and flaky sea salt for a perfect sweet and salty 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 Topping
- Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Prepare caramel ingredients: Measure and have all caramel ingredients ready. Ensure heavy cream is room temperature to prevent seizing; warm in microwave if needed.
- Cook sugar mixture: In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine water and sugar. Stir gently to mix without splashing sugar on sides. Over medium heat, let sugar dissolve untouched until mixture is clear and bubbly, then watch closely as it changes color to light golden and rich amber. Gently nudge sugar if browning unevenly.
- Add butter and cream: When sugar is amber, remove from heat and whisk in butter slices. Slowly pour in heavy cream while whisking until smooth.
- Finish caramel: Whisk in vanilla extract and salt. Return to medium heat and let bubble for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat again and whisk in flour. Set caramel aside.
- Preheat oven and prepare pan: Heat oven to 350F. Grease and line an 8×8 inch baking dish with parchment paper covering all sides.
- Mix dry dough ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk oats, flour, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.
- Mix wet dough ingredients: In a large bowl, cream softened butter and dark brown sugar until smooth using wooden spoon or electric mixer. Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract; mix well.
- Combine dough: Add dry ingredients to wet mixture and stir until just combined. Before fully incorporating, fold in the semisweet chocolate chips.
- Layer dough and nuts: Spread about two-thirds of the dough evenly in bottom of prepared pan. Sprinkle chopped nuts evenly on top.
- Bake base layer: Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes. Remove, then place remaining dough in refrigerator while baking continues.
- Add chocolate chips and caramel: Remove pan from oven, evenly sprinkle dark chocolate chips over the baked crust. Warm caramel if thickened and pour an even layer over chocolate chips.
- Add remaining dough and bake: Drop spoonfuls of leftover dough randomly over caramel. Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly golden on top.
- Cool and chill bars: Allow bars to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes, then refrigerate for 1 hour to set.
- Slice and serve: Use a knife to loosen edges if needed, lift bars from pan, sprinkle with flaky sea salt, and cut into 16 bars.
Notes
- Ensure heavy cream is room temperature before adding to hot caramel to avoid seizing.
- Use a heavy-bottomed saucepan to prevent burning sugar during caramel making.
- Line the baking pan with parchment extending over the sides for easy removal.
- Chilling leftover dough while base layer bakes helps maintain texture and prevents overcooking.
- Adjust nuts according to preference or substitute with other chopped nuts or omit for nut-free version.
- For best caramel flow, gently warm caramel if it thickens before pouring over chocolate chips.
- Sprinkle flaky sea salt last for a perfect balance of sweet and salty flavor.
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: 38 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Cholesterol: 50 mg
