Oatmeal Carmelitas

A couple days ago, I realized I still had the jars of carmel and fudge sauces I received at Christmastime. Being (finally) past what could be considered hot chocolate season (which is what the sauces were intended for), I decided to find another way to put the carmel sauce to use. I found a recipe for Oatmeal Carmelitas that would use up my jar of carmel sauce as well as some of the oatmeal I bought a couple weeks ago and haven't had an opportunity to bake with yet, and mixed it up this afternoon as an outlet to de-stress from a certain looming research paper I have to complete by Monday.

... But let's not talk about that. Let's talk about butter.

And oats, and whole wheat flour, and brown sugar.

The carmelitas consist of a base layer of oats, flour, butter, and sugar, baked for 10 minutes, then sprinkled with chocolate chips (and nuts, but I didn't have any, so I omitted them in favor of more chocolate) and drizzled with carmel sauce, then topped with another oat layer.

Thickening the carmel sauce with flour.

Funny story: I actually forgot to add the carmel sauce the first time around. I sprinkled the chocolate chips with careful nonchalance, spread the second oat layer on top, and had them back in the oven before I realized my mistake... oops. Luckily they only baked for a minute before I whipped them back out, scooped off the oat layer, and added the carmel. Let know one ever tell you baking is unexciting...

First layer, post-oven, pre-mistake.

... or a piece of cake. Have you ever mixed butter by hand? It's hard. Seriously, I think I might be developing some serious upper-right-arm muscles from this whole no-blender predicament.

I accidentally forgot to take a picture of the final product, but I think these crumbs say it all. These carmelitas were seriously yummy. It only took 5 girls and one research paper write-in to polish off the whole pan. Oatmeal is bain food, don'cha know.

Oatmeal Carmelitas

1-cup flour

1-cup oats

¾ cup brown sugar, packed

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1-¼ sticks butter, cut into tbsp. sized pieces

½ cup chocolate chips

¼ cup PB chips

½ cup caramel sauce

1-½ tablespoons flour

Preheat your oven to 350°. 

In a large bowl combine the flour, oats, sugar, and baking soda.  Stir. Add the butter and mix until the butter is well incorporated.

Remove 3 cups of this mixture to another bowl and put the rest in the greased pan and press evenly to fill the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips and pecans over the baked crust. Mix 1-½ tablespoons of flour into the caramel sauce. Drizzle the sauce over the oats and chocolate chips. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture evenly over the top of everything. Bake for 20 minutes.

Allow to cool for at least an hour before you cut them into 2” squares.

Variation: Substitute fudge sauce for caramel sauce.