These Caramel Cookie Bars feature a rich, buttery cookie crust, filled with a layer of smooth, gooey caramel. Top them off with a sprinkle of a sea salt and these bars are the perfect blend of sweet and salty flavors!
More delicious desserts for a crowd are waiting for you! Try these Cream Cheese Lemon Bars, Sugar Cookie Bars, Cream Cheese Brownies (Cheesecake Brownies), and Salted Caramel Pecan Pie Bars.
Why This Recipe Works
Decadent & Delicious: These caramel bars are an absolute dream! From the buttery shortbread cookie curst to the gooey, caramel center, these are about to be your new favorite cookie bars. Not only are they impressive to serve, but they are so delicious to eat!
Simple to Make: Each component of this caramel cookie bars recipe is actually super simple! We start off with a simple cookie crust that immediately gets pre-baked before adding the caramel. Instead of making a homemade caramel sauce, I just melted down some caramel bits and added in a bit of heavy cream! After baking, the hardest part is waiting for these cookie bars to cool down so you can dive in!
Ingredients
- Butter: Make sure to bring the butter to room temperature in order to mix it well with the sugars! There is a lot of butter in this recipe, making these cookies extremely tender and flavorful.
- Powdered Sugar: Powdered sugar makes these caramel cookie bars extra tender and chewy!
- Granulated Sugar: You also need granulated sugar to keep things sweet.
- Vanilla Extract & Almond Extract: I love to use a combination of vanilla extract and almond extract for extra flavor here. If you don’t have almond extract, replace it with extra vanilla.
- All-Purpose Flour: Regular, all-purpose flour works great here. If you need to make gluten-free caramel cookie bars, replace the flour with a gluten-free replacement flour.
- Caramel Bits: You can use caramel bits which are sold in a bag in the baking section of the store! Or, you can opt to use soft caramel candies instead.
- Heavy Cream: Heavy cream adds moisture and creaminess to the caramel bits in order to make a pourable caramel mixture!
- Sea Salt: Add a sprinkle of coarse sea salt to the top to balance out all those sweet flavors!
Here’s How to Make It
Step by Step Instructions
- Preheat & Prep: Preheat oven to 325 F and grease a 9×13 inch baking dish. (not pictured)
- Cream the Butter & Sugar: Add butter, powdered sugar, and sugar to a large bowl and mix until creamy. Add vanilla and almond extracts and mix until smooth. Add flour and mix until dough begins to form. (photos 1-4)
- Bake Half of Dough: Press half of the dough into the bottom of the greased pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Chill remaining dough while crust is baking. (photo 5)
- Make Caramel: In microwave-safe bowl, combine caramels and heavy cream. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir and return to microwave fro 20 seconds at a time, stirring after each, until caramel is smooth. (photos 6-8)
- Finish Baking: Pour the caramel over the baked crust. Drop tablespoons of chilled dough on top of the caramel layer until all of the dough is used. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Bake an additional 30-35 minutes until crust begins to brown slightly. (photos 9-12)
- Cook & Serve: Allow the caramel cookie to cool completely before cutting into bars. Enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Add chocolate chips! If you want chocolate chip caramel bars, you can add chocolate chips to the cookie dough!
- Allow the mixture to cool after baking! It is very important to allow the caramel cookies to cool before you cut them into bars. This will allow the caramel to set nicely instead of oozing out!
- For an extra special treat, you can serve your caramel bars with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top!
Frequently Asked Questions
Since every oven is different, it is important to know that these cookie bars are done once the edges of the crust are turning golden brown!
Store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days! You can also store them in the refrigerator, but allow them to come to room temperature before eating since the caramel will become hard.
More Dessert Recipes to Try
- Shortbread Cookies
- Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
- Salted Caramel Brownies
- Caramel Pecan Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Best Ever Caramel Corn
Did you make this recipe? FANTASTIC. Please rate the recipe below and be sure to tag me on social when you share a photo on social – I love seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
Caramel Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups (4 sticks) butter - softened
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ cups caramel bits - or unwrapped square caramels
- 4 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon course sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F and grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- Add butter, powdered sugar and sugar to a large bowl and mix until creamy. Add vanilla and almond extracts and mix until smooth. Add flour and mix until dough begins to form.
- Press half of dough into bottom of greased pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Chill remaining dough while crust is baking.
- In microwave-safe bowl, combine caramels and heavy cream. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir and return to microwave for 20 seconds at a time, stirring after each, until caramel is smooth.
- Pour caramel over baked crust. Drop tablespoons of chilled dough on top of caramel layer until all us used. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Bake an additional 30-35 minutes until crust is begins to brown lightly.
- Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.
hey girl these look amazing! Yummy!
These look amazing. I have totally jumped on the salted caramel bandwagon and am craving these right now. Gonna go over and pin the recipe! Thanks for sharing!
Where is the recipe for the Caramel Butter Bars?
Everything is better with carmel !
I agree 100%! 😉