Day 128: Oatmeal Carmelitas

The dessert of the day is one of my favorite bar recipes and I have made this more times than I can count. I believe I originally found the recipe in a Taste of Home magazine, Simple and Delicious.  I subscribed to this magazine when I first got married and continued to receive it for many years after. I remember waiting anxiously for each month's magazine to arrive in the mail, and I would look through the entire thing, earmarking certain pages that I knew I wanted to look at further. At that time, I was not the avid baker that I am today, but I just loved seeing the pictures of the food and dreaming of one day making mine look just as good as their's.

Oatmeal Carmelitas is a bar recipe with an oatmeal base, layered with caramel, chocolate chips, and more oatmeal batter. These are definitely a splurge for the healthy eater, although you can cut these into smaller portions because of the richness that comes from the caramel. I cut a 9 x 13 in. pan into 30 bars which comes out to 206 calories each.

These are great to take to potlucks, or make for teacher treats, or bake a pan and take to the break room at work. I needed a dessert to take for a family our church was feeding before a funeral, so I just took out a couple of bars and took the rest to the church. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

Oatmeal Carmelitas

Yield: 30 bars (206 calories each)

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups quick cooking oats
• 1-1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted

Filling:

• 1 jar caramel ice cream topping (12.25 oz)
• 3 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg. Generously grease sides and bottom of 9x13 inch dish
2. In a large bowl, blend all crust ingredients at low speed until crumbly.
3. Press 2/3 of crumb mixture in bottom of prepared pan. Reserve remaining crumb mixture for topping.
4. Bake for 10 minutes; Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine caramel and flour; set aside.
5. Sprinkle warm crust with chocolate chips; drizzle evenly with caramel, and sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.
6. Return to oven and bake an additional 20-22 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Cool completely before cutting.