Salted Caramel Oatmeal Carmelitas Recipe

If you're anything like us, you don't like to show up to a gathering empty-handed (or you just love any excuse to make your favorite treat). We've found that the most crowd-pleasing dish to bring to any group hangout is a dessert — and no offering will make you as popular as these salted caramel oatmeal carmelitas from recipe developer Kate Shungu. Shungu confirms our theory, "I love these bars for potlucks and cookouts — they disappear fast! They are also great for bake sales."

If you aren't familiar with these dessert bars, carmelitas typically consist of layers of ingredients such as oats, caramel, chocolate, and sometimes nuts. They are a rich and indulgent treat that are known for their gooey texture and sweet flavors. Imagine layers of buttery oats, gooey caramel, rich chocolate, and a touch of sea salt all harmonizing in a single dessert. Whether you're looking to impress at a gathering or are simply craving a sweet treat that hits all the right notes, these salted caramel oatmeal carmelitas are the perfect melody of comfort and extravagance.

To make these salted caramel oatmeal carmelitas, you can start by gathering your ingredients, which are flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, kosher salt, butter, vanilla, chocolate chips, heavy cream, caramels, and flaky sea salt. Now is also a good time to preheat your oven to 350 F and line a 9x13-inch baking dish with parchment paper.

If you are looking for ways to vary this recipe for a creative touch, Shungu has some tips. She tells us, "You could add sprinkles to the top crumble layer. You could also add peanuts with the chocolate chips, or M&Ms would be delicious, too."

Into a food processor, add the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, and kosher salt. Then, add the butter and vanilla and pulse until the crumb mixture comes together. Scoop out 2 cups of the crumb mixture and set them aside. Then, place the remaining crumb mixture into the bottom of the baking dish. Be sure to smooth it out to fully cover the surface. Add the chocolate chips on top of the crumb mixture, sprinkling them out evenly.

Homemade caramel sauce involves heating sugar until it melts and turns into a golden brown liquid. In this case, there's no need: Shungu makes this recipe super accessible to novices by simply melting store-bought caramels with a touch of cream. To do this, add the heavy cream to the bottom of a saucepan. Once the cream is simmering, add the unwrapped caramels. Stir until they are melted and fully incorporated into the cream, then add in the flaky sea salt to balance out the sweetness.

Pour the caramel mixture on top of the chocolate chips and, lastly, finish building your carmelitas by pressing the remaining crumb mixture on top of the caramel, creating an even layer. Bake the creation for 15-18 minutes until they are golden brown. When the time is up, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool completely. From there, you're ready to slice them into bars (Shungu slices them in a 4x6 grid) and serve.

While these bars have quite a change in texture from when they're fresh out of the oven versus stored in the fridge, Shungu notes that they can be eaten at room temperature or chilled. "I like these bars at room temperature so the caramel is just a little gooey, but some people prefer these straight from the fridge. Try them both ways and see which you like!" she says. As for one small suggestion on how to make these carmelitas even better? "A cold glass of milk is a must!" Shungu insists.