To stay in shape for the summer, I’m still on a healthy eating craze, but I’m not content to stick to baked chicken breasts and steamed broccoli. This meal has everything I was looking for tonight: a little bit of genuine cooking, some fresh seafood, and a ton of flavor. This is one I’ll have to remember for the approaching warm evenings. Try this dish with big prawns, calamari, or even grilled octopus if scallops aren’t your thing!
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 25 mins |
| Total Time: | 40 mins |
| Servings: | 36 |
| Yield: | 36 bars |
Ingredients
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ¼ cup shortening
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups quick cooking oats
- 1 (14 ounce) package individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 4 ½ cups apple – peeled, cored, and chopped
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- In a large bowl, cream together the brown sugar, butter and shortening until smooth. Combine 1 3/4 cups flour, oats, baking soda and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until well blended. Set aside 2 cups of this mixture. Press the remaining mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 9×13 inch baking pan.
- In a medium bowl, toss apples with lemon juice, then toss them with the 3 tablespoons of flour. Spread the apple mixture evenly over the prepared crust. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt caramels, stirring frequently until smooth. Pour the melted caramels evenly over the apples. Sprinkle the reserved oat mixture over the top of the apple layer. Press down lightly.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top is golden brown and the apples are tender. Cut while slightly warm and refrigerate any leftover bars.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 146 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 24 g |
| Cholesterol | 8 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 129 mg |
| Sugars | 15 g |
| Fat | 5 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
We loved them! The crust/crumble was delicious. Bars tasted good several days later.
I was tired when I made these last night but had to get them done for a farewell at work today. I chopped 3 scant cups of apples, did NOT peel them or wash in lemon. Forgot to dredge them in flour before adding to bake pan so I sprinkled it over them. Then I ADDED home made cinnamon sugar (Vietnamese cinnamon). I used Kraft caramel as they are soft; one 11 oz bag and 10 ea from 2nd bag. Be careful, easy to burn even on low if not watching. After adding the layer of crumble I sprinkled more cinnamon sugar on the top. Saved some bars for my brother who is my pro sampler and am sure he will love them as much as I do! They look just like the pic shown here…I will let you know if the co-workers like them. Next time I will use the full amount of apples and more cinnamon…stay tuned!!!
Made these for my Bunco group and they were a huge hit! Took a couple to the man I work with and he loved them too. These are definately “Do Agains”!!
just OK. used 11 oz caramels, not enough
it’s not too bad if you preferred love apple and a bit thick of this bar. But for me this not my favorite at all. And thanks for you recipe too 😉
I used a very similar recipe – the only differences were no lemon juice on the apples and the addition of 3 Tbsp butter or margarine for melting the caramels. I signed on here to see if there were any suggestions for replacing all those caramels – what a pain, and they take forever to melt! But the recipe itself is delicious, we cut and serve it at room temperature. I would have preferred more of a caramel taste but my husband thought it was perfect. When drizzling the caramel I suggest keeping it away from the edges, if it sticks to the dish when baking it gets really hard. I am going to try the caramel topping next time. Yummy!
My kids, husband and co-workers all LOVED these bars. I found them a tad sweet. I think they would benefit from a little lemon added to the apples if you’re using sweet ones (I used Rome), or else use sour apples (like Granny Smith). A little sea salt added to the caramel might make the “caramel-ness” stand out a bit more, as well. But I liked the fact that I could use fresh apples for a bar cookie, and these worked out fantastic.
This tastes SO good, but it was more likely a cobbler than bars. The only change I made was the addition of cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice (which I would absolutely recommend). I would make these again, but I wouldn’t cut them. I would serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a bowl!
YUM! This will become a fall tradition in our house!
Certainly not something you can eat without a plate and a fork, as “bar” would suggest, but absolutely yummy.
Super yummy. I think I will use a bit less salt next time and try more caramels. I mixed the crust/topping in my kitchen aid mixer, melted the caramels on med-low then poured over the apples. Baked 25 mins then let them cool for about an hour before cutting then let them sit another 30 mins before removing from pan. I would let them sit longer to set but they held together just enough that we could eat them as bars w/o needing a utensil.
These bars were delicious!! I baked the bottom crust first for about 12 mins and that helped keep the bars together. I also added cinnamon to the apples like other reviewers had suggested which was a nice touch 🙂 The caramels were a little tricky but I put them in a saucepan on low heat with a little water(since I didnt have milk) and kept stirring so they wouldnt stick, then drizzled it on the apples. The only thing I would change is probably eliminating the salt all together. I could kind of taste it in the bars and it just wasnt my preference. Overall, the bars turned out great and I’d definitely make them again 🙂
These are divine. They are somewhat crumbly, but we just ate them with forks. Warm them in the microwave for extra scrumptiousness. Mmmm!
These were very tasty but mine came out very soft and mooshy so they were hard to eat with our fingers. I used a fork. 🙂
Awesome!! Definitely worth the trouble of peeling and chopping! I had to add a little milk to the caramels so that they would melt smoothly, but maybe it was because of the brand I used.
Delicious and pretty easy to make. I melted the caramels in the microwave. I heated them for 20-30 seconds at a time, stirring in between and watching to make sure they didn’t burn.
Followed recipe, using old-fashioned oats (what I had on hand)…tossed apples with generous amount of cinnamon and a bit of nutmeg. Prebaked the bottom crust for several minutes. Used 1 package Krafts caramel bits melted in microwave with 1-2 T. milk. Drizzled over the apples without a problem. Added toasted pecans to the top layer. After the pan was out of the oven for awhile, I started to make cuts, and once it was room-temp. I had no trouble cutting into bars. Served with vanilla ice cream and extra sprinkle of cinnamon. All in all yum! May want a bit more caramel next time for extra decadence…
A TOP FLAVORY HEALTHY SNACK FOR KIDS IN SCHOOL.
This was waaay too sweet for me & I had to throw the whole thing out – my son couldn’t even eat it. I cut back on the sugar but it was still too much. Thank you for sharing, but I’ll try another recipe next time.
This is simple and delicious. Reduce the salt and serve at room temperature. A new fall treat for my family.
Made this for a Halloween party, and it went over great! Didn’t have vanilla available, but it didn’t seem to affect the recipe that much. Great recipe!