I hope everyone has a few good friends who never fail to provide excellent reading recommendations. If you’re lucky, they even loan you the book! My friend Paula is exactly that person, and I can never wait to read what she sends my way. The last time I saw her, she gave me a whole stack of books. One was called A Place at the Table, and that sounded like food was involved, so I read it first. (Of course!) Food was involved, but even better, the characters talked about what they ate all the time. A part of the novel was set in Decatur, Georgia and a popular dessert from that region that I had never heard of was mentioned several times. Decatur is where Agnes Scott College is located and I know that’s near Macon, so I called my Macon friend and accused her of holding out on me about some Georgia delicacy. Well, she had never heard of it either, so I had to do some research and find out just what Oatmeal Carmelitas were all about. The book described them as bar cookies that are salty and sweet, in my humble opinion, the most irresistible of all combinations.
The Internet and a couple of old cookbooks provided several recipes, all similar so I combined the best of all of them, meaning the most butter, the most pecans, the most caramel, etc. so you won’t have to do any additional homework.
Now that I’ve experimented with several batches, it’s time to share this recipe. The first thing you need is a person to unwrap a whole bag of caramels.
I found that offering to let my husband eat 1 for every 20 he unwrapped was successful. Note: this is not a good activity for anyone with braces or dentures! Otherwise, you just need to be patient and do it yourself. Next, be clever when you are using bowls. I melted my butter in a small bowl and mixed it with the oatmeal mixture, and then I used the same bowl to melt my caramels. Genius! Only two bowls to clean – well worth it for Oatmeal Carmelitas. Be sure to keep in mind that this recipe makes about 34 good sized bars so plan to be VERY popular as you share with friends and neighbors.
Finally, make up a batch and settle in with a couple of warm Oatmeal Carmelitas, and, of course, a very good book! Enjoy, because that won’t last long, -as soon as anyone smells these, you’ll have company!
Ingredients
2 cups uncooked oatmeal (not instant)
2 cups flour
1½ cups brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
12 oz package semi sweet chocolate chips
1 bag caramels (I used Kroger brand once which contained 11 oz, and Kraft another time with 14 oz, it doesn’t seem to matter), unwrapped
1/3 cup half&half
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl combine oatmeal, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
Mix in melted butter.
Melt caramels and half& half on the stove top or in a microwave. It took about 3 minutes in the microwave, stirring after each minute.
Put half over the oatmeal batter in the 9 x 13 pan and press with your hands to cover the bottom of the pan.
Top with chocolate chips, nuts, and melted caramel.
Crumble the remaining batter over the top. (The recipes said to spread, but don’t worry about it – a crumble works fine.)
Bake for 30 minutes or until a light golden brown.
Cool before slicing, or at least try to!
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