These Dark Chocolate Caramel Oatmeal Rye Bars feature a rich dark chocolate caramel with buttery oatmeal rye layers and a sprinkle of chocolate chips and pecans.
There's something about wanting a cookie, but not wanting to actually make the dough, chill the dough, make cookie balls, bake individual cookies, blah blah blah... that more often than not leaves one without a cookie in their hand. You with me? {audible background cheering} Enter the cookie bar. {tah dah} All the crave-busting of a cookie, without any of the troublesome in between steps. Bonus: you can pile extra stuff inside of them!!
Ingredients
- Rye flour I took my oatmeal pecan chocolate chip cookie recipe and fortified it with rye flour, for an extra nutty flavor and pressed it into the bottom of a baking pan, for an amazing base to this bar. Part of this cookie mixture was reserved for dropping on top of the caramel for another layer of cookie goodness. I found the rye flour in the health food section of my regular mega market. If you can't find it or you just don't feel like you'll use it enough, don't get it. Just use regular all-purpose flour. It will absolutely still be delicious.
- Dark chocolate caramel I topped the cookie base with the easiest dark chocolate salted caramel you'll ever taste. Made with caramel candies, dark chocolate, and heavy cream, with just a pinch of salt, it is melted together and spread on top of the oatmeal rye cookie layer.
- Chocolate chips and pecans Because I'm WACKY, I sprinkled more mini chocolate chips and toasted pecans on top. My friends, make this and you will thank me. Insane deliciousness never looked or tasted so good!
Love oats? Crisp and lightly sweet, my Easy Homemade Granola has coconut and dried cranberries for an extra boost of flavor! So simple to make, you’ll want to have this on hand at all times for breakfast and snacks.
Tips for Success
- I found the rye flour in the health food section of my regular mega market. If you can't find it or you just don't feel like you'll use it enough, don't get it. Just use regular all-purpose flour. It will absolutely still be delicious.
- Lining your pan with parchment paper is very important if you want to be able to remove these bars from the pan. Otherwise, you'll just be eating them straight out of the pan at midnight with no one... just line the pan. It's best for everyone.
Makes one 13X9 pan of Dark Chocolate oatmeal Rye Bars that you may or may not find yourself eating under the covers because you couldn't stop yourself.
Dark Chocolate Caramel Oatmeal Rye Bars
Ingredients
Oatmeal Cookie Layer
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup (200g) brown sugar
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
- 1 ½ cup (195g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (120g) dark rye flour (can substitute with all-purpose flour)
- 1 teaspoon fine grain kosher or sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ cup (120g) old fashioned (whole) oats
- 1 ½ cup (120g) old fashioned (whole) oats, coarsely ground in food processor
- 1 cup (100g) toasted pecan, chopped
- 1 cup (180g) mini chocolate chips
Dark Chocolate Caramel Layer
- 11 oz (311g) bag of caramels, unwrapped
- 4 oz (113g) dark chocolate, chopped in bits
- ⅓ cup (80g) heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment paper and spray liberally with nonstick cooking spray.In a large bowl stir together flour, dark rye flour, salt, baking soda, and the oats. Set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream together butter and sugar for about 2-3 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add eggs, milk, and vanilla, and mix until well combined.
- Add wet and dry ingredients together and mix just until everything comes together. Toss your mini chocolate chips and pecans together and fold most of them into the dough, reserving some (75 g or so) to sprinkle on top. Spread ⅔ of the batter into the bottom of your prepared pan. Set the rest aside. We'll get to it in a few minutes!
- In a heat proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, combine caramels, chopped chocolate, cream, and salt mixing occasionally until completely melted and smooth. Pour into the pan, over the layer of oatmeal cookie dough, and spread evenly with an offset spatula I find spraying the spatula with some nonstick spray helps the smoothing go smoother. 😜
- Drop teaspoonsful of remaining dough on top the caramel in a random cobblestone pattern. Sprinkle the reserved mini chocolate chips and pecans over the top. Bake for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with some flaky sea salt and allow to cool completely before cutting into bars. You really should wait.
Notes
- I found the rye flour in the health food section of my regular mega market. If you can't find it or you just don't feel like you'll use it enough, don't get it. Just use regular all-purpose flour. It will absolutely still be delicious.
- Lining your pan with parchment paper is very important if you want to be able to remove these bars from the pan. Otherwise, you'll just be eating them straight out of the pan at midnight with no one... just line the pan. It's best for everyone.
Nutrition
The nutritional and caloric information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It does not assert or suggest that readers should or should not count calories, and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s or doctor’s counseling.
Flo says
These are so delicious!!!!
Thank you 😊
Cynthia says
I’m so glad you like them!!