Caramelitas

Today while doing my daily Pinterest check, I came across a recipe for caramelitas. What is a caramelita? I soon found out it is an oaty slice with chocolate chips and caramel laced through them. I HAD to make them!  The recipe called for chewy caramels that are typically found in the candy section of the grocery store, but while looking today I realised that they don't sell them here in NZ! So I had to settle for some other caramels filled with chocolate and some caramel chips.

After making and baking the caramelitas, I let them cool for about 30 minutes, got sick of waiting and decided to cut them up...BIGGEST MISTAKE. The baking paper that I used ended up completely sticking to the bottom and sides of the slice, so I had a complete meltdown and pretty much gave up.

After letting it cool properly, I finally was able to cut it and take a few photos. Overall, I was happy with how they turned out and will definitely be making them again.

Recipe:

• 32 chewy caramels 
• ½ cup heavy cream
• ¾ cup butter, melted
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 oz dark chocolate chips
• 3 oz milk chocolate chips

Combine caramels and cream in a small saucepan until smooth, set aside. In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, flour, oats and baking soda. Press ½ of the oat mixture onto the bottom of an 8x8" pan lined with NONSTICK baking paper. Bake at 350 degrees (180 celsius) 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle over the chocolate chips and caramel mixture. Crumble remaining oat mix over the caramel and chocolate chips and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool completely before slicing. :)