If you read my post from last Saturday – Tim Tam Truffles – you will know that I was in a tiny little crisis as the supermarkets near me were both out of Oreos! Well I’m here to tell you my friends, that crisis is not averted. I’m nearly at meltdown point and there are still NO OREOS!! How is this even possible? Do they not realise that they have a baking obsessed, food craving, blog writing woman in their town?!
Okay, okay, so I may be being a little melodramatic in how dire the situation is. I mean they are only a biscuit and I don’t actually need them for today’s recipe….. But still, Oreos…. *Sigh*
Not only does today’s recipe not contain Oreos, it also doesn’t contain chocolate! I know that may seem hard to believe but its true! I call today’s recipe Chewy Caramel Oat Bars.
I first thought of trying out an experiment when I made some salted caramel for another recipe (watch this space!). I made the caramel by boiling butter, brown sugar and milk together. From there, I wondered if I could make a caramel oat bar but instead of placing the caramel in the middle of the slice or on top, I wondered how it would fare being mixed through as the only wet ingredients in this slice. I mean the caramel already contains the butter and the sugar, all the would be missing is the dry ingredients and an egg.
Of course when I first experimented with this slice, I had no idea how it would turn out. First I tried with adding an egg and 3/4 of wholemeal flour to the mixture as I thought the egg would bind the ingredients together and act as a leavener. However, this test fail! The end result was a nice flavour, unfortunately the slice was just way to dry, and the caramel flavour was not as enhanced as I would have liked it to be.
For the next test I decided to omit the egg – and trust that the baking soda would be enough to give the bars lift – and reduce the amount of flour to 1/2 to create quite a thin mixture. I placed this in the oven and crossed my fingers. When it was baked it looked great the baking soda definitely did its job. That was until I placed the tin on the bench. Suddenly the oat bars deflated and sunk. My first thought was that these were another failure but I reserved my judgement until the taste test.
I’m glad I did…
Because those were it! I feel absolutely in love with those bars. These caramel oat bars were sticky, chewy, sweet, gooey, oaty and tasted strongly of caramel. Just like I wanted them.
Not only are they delicious and amazing but they are so easy to make. First, you make the caramel by placing butter, brown sugar and milk in a pan on a medium to high heat and allow it to come to a rolling boil for around 5 to 10 minutes. Then mix that through the flour, oats and baking soda. Place all that in a pan in the oven and wait for them to cook. See? Couldn’t be easier!
I know the bars are quite thin so its almost like eating a soft, gooey, chewy toffee but if you would prefer a large slice you can double the recipe so the bars end up thicker.
- 80 g Butter
- 3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
- 5 Tbsp. Milk
- 3/4 Cup Oats
- 1/2 Cup Wholemeal Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a 8"x8" pan with baking paper.
- Place the butter, brown sugar and milk in a saucepan over a medium to high heat. Let that come to the boil and boil for a good 5 minutes.
- Take the caramel off the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
- While the caramel is cooling, place the oats, wholemeal flour and baking soda in a bowl and mix together.
- Pour in the caramel and mix.
- Pour into the prepared pan and place in the oven for 25 - 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- It will puff up quite a bit in the oven and then sink, don't worry this is supposed to happen.
If you would like a thicker slice, double the recipe while keeping an 8x8" pan.
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