Chocolate oatmeal bars

Let me introduce the easiest oat bars. Layers of oats, chocolate, dulce de leche and walnuts make up these irresistible bars!

I don't know where you live, but people here go crazy for anything sweet made with oats. Add chocolate and you have a winning combination. Add dulce de leche and well, they start crushing on you.

This recipe for oat bars hails back to the '80s. I ripped a recipe from a magazine and pasted it on a blank page in my recipes binder. Yes, I used to have a very sophisticated way of archiving my recipes when I was a teenager, a school-type black binder with hoops and white pages. Hence the name Vintage Kitchen.

The thing is that it made into the 21st century, internet and all, and definitely holds its place. I still have the black binder, of course, and have made many recipes from it that turned out amazing. I have a lot of crap recipes too, of course.

Did I mention they also have dulce de leche? Talk about a synergy of ingredients!.

What is dulce de leche?

Dulce de leche when translated means milk jam, and it is that, basically. Milk and sugar are boiled for a few hours until they turn syrupy and thicken. Baking soda is added to give it that caramel color.

And that's it, milk jam.

Dulce de leche substitutions

Dulce de leche can be easily substituted with caramel, either homemade or store-bought.

A quicker version of the stuff can also be made with a can of condensed milk in the oven, as David Lebovitz explains. Or boiling it. You get a very good version of dulce de leche without the mess.

I use dulce de leche instead of caramel a lot because it's so readily available here (Buenos Aires), but caramel was the original ingredient. The idea is to add an extra layer of sweetness. I think a good - homemade anyone? - raspberry jam might work too. We all know how good chocolate and raspberries are, don't we?.

I have made this as a last-minute barbecue dessert and for crowdy events like family birthday reunions. Talk about easy, fast and crowd-pleasing!. All boxes checked.

Easy Carmelitas Recipe (chocolate oat bars)

• Author: Paula Montenegro
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 35 minutes
• Total Time: 50 minutes
• Yield: 15 bars 1x
• Category: Bars
• Method: Baking
• Cuisine: American

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Description

These are the most irresistible bars that are insanely easy to make! A layer of buttery oat mixture is topped with chocolate, caramel or dulce de leche, nuts, and a crunchy topping. They are out of the oven in 45 minutes, keep well, and can be frozen. 

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 cups (270g) all-purpose flour
• 2 cups (180g) traditional oats
• 1 cup (200g) packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (225g) unsalted butter, melted
• 10 oz. (280g) semi-sweet chocolate, chips or chunks
• 1 ¼ cups (150g) walnuts, chopped
• 1 ¼ cups (300g) dulce de leche or thick caramel sauce

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven at 350ºF / 180ºC.
2. Spray or butter a 12x8-inch (20x30cm) pan and line bottom and two wider sides with a strip of wax or parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl mix flour, oats, sugar, baking soda and salt.
4. Add melted butter and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until it’s all wet, no dry parts remaining.
5. Reserve 1 ½ cups of this mixture, and press the remaining onto the bottom of the prepared pan.
6. Bake for about 15 minutes, until it starts to dry and color a bit.
7. Take it out of the oven and immediately scatter the chocolate chunks over the hot base.
8. Spread with a spoon or spatula and sprinkle chopped walnuts evenly on top.
9. Add the dulce de leche or caramel by spoonfuls on top of the walnuts. It will not cover the whole surface. That’s OK.
10. Scatter the reserved 1 ½ cups of oatmeal mixture and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, until it bubbles and starts to color.
11. When you take it out of the oven, run a smooth knife along the sides to separate any dulce de leche that might have stuck and make it hard to unmold later.
12. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
13. Lift the paper to take out the whole block from the pan and cut into squares or rectangles.

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Notes

Use pecans if you prefer.

Keywords: oat bars, oatmeal bars, chocolate oatmeal