Once upon a time my friend, Jill, told me about Carmelitas. It sounded like they would hit aaaaall my buttons, so I did a little research and found tons of recipes online. I picked three and kind of Frankenstein-ed them together. The results were just OK, but I knew they could be great with a little tweaking. Then I forgot about them.

That is, until October 30, 2014, when my favorite podcast aired an episode on caramel. As you can imagine, I was all ears. So, when they mentioned Cara-Sel I totally freaked out. Icing on the cake? They discussed Carmelitas and linked to (what I now know is) the original winning recipe from the 1967 Pillsbury Bake-Off. Why it took me 1 year, 22 weeks, and 3 days to try the recipe I'll never know.

Please, don't make the same mistake I did. Make these. Soon.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I updated this recipe in March 2021, five years after its original posting. I found that over the years I started using even less sugar and wanted more nuts / less chocolate.

Carmelitas

recipe adapted from 1967 Pillsbury Bake-Off Winner

CRUST

1 stick (8 Tbs) butter, softened
½ cup (106g) packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour
1 cup (100g) old fashioned rolled oats
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp Diamond Crystal Kosher salt (less if Morton’s)
extra salt for the top (optional)

FILLING

6oz Cara-Sel salted caramel sauce
¼ cup bittersweet chocolate chips (I like this much, you may want more)
heaping ½ cup (66g) toasted, chopped pecans (feel free to sub your favorite nut)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” square pan with parchment paper.

Using a stand mixer or a large bowl and a hand mixer, beat butter, sugar, and vanilla together. Add dry ingredients and mix at low speed until well combined (it will be crumbly). Press half of crumb mixture into the bottom of your prepared pan as evenly as possible, working to get it into the corners. It may seem like there isn’t enough to cover, but don’t fret, it is. Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove partially baked crust from the oven and sprinkle it with the nuts and chocolate chips. Drizzle evenly with the caramel (you may need to warm your caramel slightly to loosen it up), spreading with a spatula to even it out (the chocolate will be melty). Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture, using your hands to squeeze it into bigger clumps if you like.

Return the pan to the oven and bake for an additional 18-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove bars from the oven and sprinkle with flaky salt (if using). Let bars cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. When you are ready to cut, lift parchment sling out of the pan and transfer to a cutting board.

I like to cut them into 25 very small squares because they really pack a punch, but you can cut 16 large (or anything in between). Any way you slice it, they will be devoured.