These Brown Butter Carmelitas are a brown butter oatmeal cookie bar with a smooth and creamy chocolate caramel center. A treat you just can’t resist.

Brown Butter Carmelitas

One of my favorite things to make throughout the year is homemade carmelitas. They are so gooey, with a caramel-chocolate center with rolled oats for its outer layer. It is the perfect cookie-like dessert bar. With my recent obsession over brown butter, which has been since I made my Salted Caramel & Brown Butter Snickerdoodles, I have been trying to work brown butter into another recipe.

I love the richness of the brown butter and its nutty aroma which I think pairs well with oats, which led to this recipe. I ended up loving this recipe so much that the next morning I caught myself eating some for breakfast and had to make my 7-year-old, Madden, deliver them right away to the neighbors, so I wouldn’t eat the entire batch. Well, not right away since it was 7:30 am, but soon thereafter.

Brown Butter Carmelitas

The only thing that I struggled with this recipe is that the oats while cutting crumbled a little, which was nice for me as I literally licked them off the counter. But I like perfectly cut edges, so I was a little bummed at first. Besides me licking the crumbs off the counter, like my 3 year old would, this is just a perfect dessert.

Top this with a little ice-cream and oh, it’s better than…well really anything, you get my drift.
Enjoy! XOXO San

How do you make Brown Butter Carmelitas?

  • Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cut 3/4 cup butter into slices and add to saucepan.

  • Whisk butter while it melts until butter turns brown and has a slightly nutty aroma. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temp.

  • Add caramels and cream into a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until melted and smooth, set aside.

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine brown butter, brown sugar, flour, oats, and baking soda in a mixing bowl.

  • Press half of the oatmeal mixture into the bottom of an 8×8 pan. To fill a 9×13 pan, double the recipe. Bake for 10 minutes.

  • Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over crust. Pour caramel mixture over chocolate chips. Crumble remaining oatmeal mixture over caramel.

  • Return to oven and bake for another 18-22 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting.

  • Return to oven and bake an additional 18-22 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting, this will take some time as the caramel needs time to set.

  • Once cooled and caramel is set, serve and enjoy! Store in an airtight container at room temperature. 

 

Love these treats? Check out these recipes: Chewy Pretzel Peanut Butter Granola BarsNo-Bake Quinoa Oat Bars, and Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars!

Don’t forget to pin this to your favorite Pinterest board to save for later!

 

Brown Butter Carmelitas

Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Total: 50 minutes
Servings: 9 -12 bars
These Brown Butter Carmelitas are a brown butter oatmeal cookie bar with a smooth and creamy chocolate caramel center. A treat you just can't resist.

Ingredients
 

  • 11 ounce package of caramel squares unwrapped
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 3/4 cup butter
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar packed
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions
 

  • Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cut 3/4 cup butter into slices and add to saucepan.
  • Whisk butter while it melts until butter turns brown and has a slightly nutty aroma. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temp.
  • Add caramels and cream into a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until melted and smooth, set aside.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine brown butter, brown sugar, flour, oats, and baking soda in a mixing bowl.
  • Press half of the oatmeal mixture into the bottom of an 8x8 pan. To fill a 9x13 pan, double the recipe. Bake for 10 minutes.
  • Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over crust. Pour caramel mixture over chocolate chips. Crumble remaining oatmeal mixture over caramel.
  • Return to oven and bake for another 18-22 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting.
  • Return to oven and bake an additional 18-22 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting, this will take some time as the caramel needs time to set.
  • Once cooled and caramel is set, serve and enjoy! Store in an airtight container at room temperature. 

Notes

*If you want to use homemade or store-bought caramel sauce in place of the caramel/cream mixture, use 1 1/4 cups of caramel sauce, and omit the caramel squares and heavy cream. Also, if you want less chocolate use 2/3 of a cup.
Tried this recipe?Let us know what you think!

Kids review: Anything with caramel, oats and chocolate chips is a winner in this house, this was just another recipe to prove that. They all loved it.

Similar Posts

52 Comments

  1. Sandra, these look like they would definitely make the perfect breakfast (or any meal/snack/dessert). Can you believe that I’ve never had a carmelita before? I need to get on that stat 🙂

  2. HI! What a great idea! Caramel, chocolate… my 2 sugar demons will love it! When you say “1 package of caramel squares, unwrapped”, what quantity does it make? 20 squares? 40? 60???
    Thanks!

  3. 5 stars
    Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating