Delicious Caramel Apple Bars

Submitted by Kittencalrecipezazz

"A wonderful oat crust, topped with apples and nuts baked with a caramel sauce, this is a family favorite! --- servings is only esitmated it will depend on the size you slice the bars."

 

• Ready In: 55mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Serves: 35

ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 1⁄2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1⁄4 cups butter or 1 1/4 cups margarine
• 1 1⁄2 cups caramel ice cream topping
• 1⁄2 cup flour
• 2 cups coarsely chopped apples
• 1⁄2 cup chopped walnuts or 1/2 cup pecans

directions

1. Set oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease a 15 x 10" baking pan.
3. In a small pan over low heat, melt butter.
4. In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, 2 cups oats, brown sugar, baking soda, and melted butter; mix until crumbly.
5. Press half of the mixture (about 2-1/2 cups) in the prepared baking pan; bake for 8 minutes.
6. Set aside the remaining crumbs.
7. In a small pan over medium heat, combine caramel topping and 1/2 cup flour; bring to a boil, stirring constantly; boil for 2-3 minutes, or until slightly thickened.
8. Spread the apples and the chopped nuts onto the baked crust.
9. Pour the hot caramel mixture evenly over apples and nuts; sprinkle reserved crumbly mixture evenly over the top of caramel.
10. Return pan to oven; bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.
11. Cool completely in the pan.
12. Cut into bars (refrigeration makes cutting easier).
13. Store tightly covered.

Reviews

[MNGoldenBear]

Made it for our son's turn at snack day at school (yes, a small, country school where classes can still have homemade treats instead of having to have packaged treats). Kids and adults loved it. Perfect fall pre-Halloween treat. Like a portable caramel apple crisp. Used Kittencal caramel sauce instead of the premade stuff for an extra homemade touch.<br/><br/>I realize the other reviews are pretty old, but a couple notes on them: to evelyn/athen, there's a good chance you may have done something wrong. Make sure no ingredients are missed in the crust, spread it very evenly to get a solid bottom layer, and be sure to do the pre-bake (it seals the bottom crust). I use a parchment liner just in case (also makes it easy to slip off the jellyroll pan to cut without scoring the pan), but it wasn't necessary in this case. Be sure the caramel sauce is fairly thick before using it -- if it's too thin, I suspect it may combine with liquid from the apples and soak through the bottom. I think I did go closer to 25-30 minutes on time, but I was a little generous with the apples. Use good cooking apples (I used Haralsons and some other new variety) -- they are sometimes a bit drier than those best for fresh eating (Fuji, Honeycrisp, etc.). It's sweet -- good with strong coffee!<br/><br/>To Nancy: If you like nuts but they tasted "off" in this recipe (but would still like them to work), perhaps try toasting the nuts in the oven a while before using them in the mixture. If the nuts don't get toasted, they can be a bit astrigent (especially walnuts). Toasting would bring out the nutty flavor that would compliment the other flavors of this crisp-like bar. My wife didn't care for nuts other than peanuts (which she loves) -- I realized she didn't like the RAW nut taste.

 

[Maribeli]

Wow this was GREAT. I love Kittencal's recipes! I took this to a dinner party and was quickly asked for the recipe! I had no issues with my caramel hardening. It was perfect. I used semi-sour apples to combat the sweetness. I also didn't add nuts. Thanks once again for the great recipe! Will definitely make again!

 

[BakerNurse]

I first saw this recipe on another web site and printed it off, but never made it - when I saw it here submitted by non other than Kittencal, I knew I had to try it -and I was NOT disappointed!! It makes a truly delicious and different bar - everyone at work loved it! A great recipe, I'll use again and again!

 

[evelynathens]

This didn't turn out quite so well for me as it did for previous reviewers, so I'm wondering if I did something wrong - but I really followed the recipe to the letter. My first problem was that the caramel topping seemed to sink through the bottom crust while baking, turning it almost candy-like once baked (no bad thing), but also making it extremely difficult to get a presentable piece out of the pan as it did tend to stick a lot. Another issue I had was with the baking time. The 20-25 minutes baking once the apples have been added is nowhere near long enough to cook them - I found I needed 40 minutes. Lastly, the recipe was just way too sweet for my whole family (including kids). I will try the recipe again, but use half the amount of sugar in the crumb mixture and half the amount of caramel topping, which I found generous to begin with.

 

[Vamy7913]

These were YUMMY!!! I made them and brought them to a dinner party. Needless to say, the pan came home empty! I will make these over and over! Thanks alot! :)