Caramel Butter Bars

Caramel Butter Bars.  Need I say more? There is delicious caramel and butter all in a sweet bar that’s perfect for this holiday season. Caramel Butter bars are the best of two worlds, merged together: a sweet chewy shortbread bar and the creamy caramel that holds it all together.

How to Make Caramel Butter Bars

First, place softened butter add in the bowl of stand mixer (we use a kitchenAid). Add the sugars until combined.  Next, add the vanilla and flour, 1 cup at a time. Scrape down the bowl frequently as sometimes the flour will get trapped on the bottom. Once the bottom is free of dry flour and it feels moist, but crumbly, set it aside.

Next, prepare pan. Use parchment paper to make sure the bars will remove from the pan easily (they are easier to cut once lifted out of the pan).  Cut parchment paper wider than your pan, letting the extra paper extend past the sides to act as handles, as shown below:

Press 1/2 of the dough into the bottom of prepared pan. Sprinkle the dough along the bottom and then using your fingers, press it gently into place, making sure it is spread evenly.  If it sticks to your fingers, moisten them with water, then continue to press into pan.

Bake the crust for 15-20 minutes. How thick you make that bottom crust will determine your timing: if the crust is slighter thinner, it will be closer to 20 minutes.  If is thicker, it might take closer to 22 minutes.

As soon as the bars are out of the oven, I start on the caramel.

I use Caramel Bits by Kraft as there are two plusses to using bits: 1. No unwrapping necessary, and 2. they are smaller so tend to melt more quickly. Or you can use 11 oz of Peters Caramel found at Orson Gygi. (use code Sweetmacshop for 10% off)

Using a microwave-safe blow, place bowl of Caramel Bits in microwave and add cream.  Cook for 1 minute. Microwave every 30 seconds until caramel and cream mixture is smooth. The melting process is shown step-by-step in these pictures.  When caramel is smooth, add vanilla extract.

Pour caramel over baked crust. smooth with spatula until even. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

Take the remaining dough, crumble over the top. Small gaps in the top are fine, the caramel will bubble up and be delicious.

Finally, place it back in the oven for an additional 25-30 minutes.  Let completely cool before cutting. I like thicker bars so I use a 9×13 pan. You can use a jelly roll pan and they will be a little thinner.

If you are looking for some more fall favorite desserts that are perfect for the family gatherings try:

Pumpkin Spice Crumble Cookie: a sweet sugar cookie with sweet frosting and delicious crumble topping

These Maple Pecan Cookies are heaven in a cookie. The sweet maple glaze, and crisp pecan crumble all on top of a sweet sugar cookie is a crowd favorite.