Oatmeal Snickers Brownie Bars

With so many full size candy bars left after Halloween, I was challenged to try and find recipes to use up some of the extras. The box of candy we bought had a lot of Snickers in it, and my husband doesn’t like those (because of the nuts) and I certainly didn’t need to eat them so the hunt was on. I have found two recipes that can use Snickers, so I should be able to use them all up.

This recipe originally called for Milky Way bars, but the only difference with the Snickers is that they have nuts. Oats, chocolate, and caramel would certainly work with the nuts in a Snickers bar, so I just substituted. This is a substantial bar, with a hearty oat/brownie mixture and a caramel filling. They take a little time to put together, but they are worth it. These use Kraft caramel bits as a shortcut. I have found that caramel bits can be hard to find (luckily I can find them at my local Target) so if you can’t located them you can just use 11 ounces of unwrapped caramels.

Getting the top on these bars was the most challenging part of making these cookies. You can’t really spread the topping over the caramel. What I ended up doing was taking a piece of the topping and flattening it and placed it on top of the caramel. Do that enough times and you can piece together a top crust. Don’t worry about getting it perfect; these would be just as good with streaks of caramel showing through. At first I thought these would be really chocolaty, but they weren’t. Still the combination of flavors was great and really enjoyed these bars.

Oatmeal Snickers Brownie Bars

2 full size Snickers, chopped
11 ounces Kraft Caramel Bits
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 cups oats
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2-1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
2 cups boxed brownie mix
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” baking pan with foil and butter the foil.

In a medium sauce pan, place the Snickers, caramels, and heavy cream. Let simmer over medium low heat until fully melted. Remove from heat and let cool approximately ten minutes.

In a large mixer bowl combine oats, flour, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, and butter. Mix on low to incorporate. The mixture will be crumbly, with chunks no bigger than the size of peas. Stir in the two cups of brownie mix, egg, and oil. Stir until just combined.

Spread half of the oat mixture into the prepared baking pan and press firmly to flatten. Pour the melted caramel mixture over the oats. Make sure to get all the way to the corners. Top with remaining oat mixture.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the bars begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.

Recipe from I am Baker