Chocolate Chip Caramel Cookies Bars

The weather has been painfully cold for the past few days.  The temperatures have been frigid, and the wind painfully brisk.

I was running yesterday and took my phone out of my pocket to see how long I had run.  While the phone was out in the air, it died.  I thought the batteries were empty, but it turned back on when I got inside.  It was too cold!  My phone couldn't function in the hypothermia inducing temperatures.  

A benefit of the miserable weather is that today was a snow day.  Work was cancelled.

Last year I had several snow days, but this one was the first this winter.

I slept in, made myself pancakes for breakfast, and had a leisure morning.  I think I'll head over to the theater to watch a movie in a bit.

Every once in a while it's good to have an unexpected break.

This recipe came from a blog called Mom on Timeout.  I ran out of brown sugar so I substituted some of it for white sugar.  I also used more caramels because the bag I purchased had 12 ounces of caramel instead of 11.

The ingredients for the caramel layer are 12 ounces caramels, 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk, and 4 tablespoons butter.  The cookie layer ingredients are 1 1/2 sticks butter, 1 1/4 cups brown sugar, 3/4 cup white granulated sugar, 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoon vanilla, 2 cups flour, 1 cup old fashioned oats, 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 2 cups chocolate chips.  

I unwrapped the caramels and placed them in a pot with 4 tablespoons of butter and sweetened condensed milk.

Over medium heat, I melted the caramel ingredients together.  I stirred occasionally.

I creamed the sugars and butter together.

I mixed in the peanut butter.

I added the eggs one at a time and mixed after each addition.

I mixed in the vanilla.

In another bowl, I combined the flour, oats, baking powder, and salt.

I added the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stirred thoroughly. 

I stirred the chocolate chips into the cookie batter.

I pressed two thirds of the cookie dough into a lined and greased 9 by 13 inch baking pan.

I poured the caramel layer over the cookie dough base. Yum!

I spooned on teaspoon size globs of the remaining cookie dough over the caramel layer.

I baked this for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

The cookie needs to cool completely before being cut.  If you cut it immediately it will be a gooey mess.  It will still be delicious but a mess.

These were are deliciously amazing as they look.  The cookie layer was sweet and buttery.  The edges were crispy, but the bars were soft inside.

The caramel layer was soft, decadent, and luscious.  It was a thick caramel layer, but I enjoyed it.

If you are concerned about your sugar consumption, this isn't the bar for you.  It is a guilty pleasure that should only be eaten occasionally.  It is well worth the splurge though!

They are both divine and sinful at the same time.  It's an oxymoron but true!