Ooey Gooey Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Bars complete on plate
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Ooey Gooey Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Bars

These bars are super easy to make and turn out soft and chewy. They are buttery and chocolatey with a layer of gooey caramel that melts in your mouth.  They keep well in an airtight container for days.
Author: Wench Sherry

Ingredients

Cookie Layers

  • 1 cup salted butter room temperature
  • 1 cup light brown sugar packed
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 2 cups chocolate chips semi-sweet, milk or dark

Caramel Layer

  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk 14 oz
  • 10 ounces caramel bits
  • 1 tsp flakey sea salt approximately

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  • Line a 9 X 13 baking pan with parchment and then spray the parchment with cooking spray.
  • With your stand or hand held mixer cream the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until fluffy. This normally takes about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl periodically.
  • Add the eggs, vanilla, salt (just the regular salt, not the sea salt) and baking soda and mix until smooth. Again, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
  • Add the flour in increments until just combined.
  • Stir in the chocolate chips.
  • Press half of the dough into your prepared pan and set aside.
  • Add the caramel bits and sweetened condensed milk to a medium saucepan and melt together on medium-low heat until smooth.  Make sure to stir this often as caramel can burn easily.
  • Remove the caramel mixture from the heat and carefully pour over the first half of cookie dough that you have pressed into the pan.  Spread evenly with a spatula making sure to get the caramel all the way to the edges.
  • Take small bits of the remaining dough and flatten into discs to lay on top of the caramel mixture. You will need to use slightly wet hands or spray your hands with cooking spray to keep the dough from sticking to you too much.  Try to cover as much of the caramel as possible. Or, you can just drop teaspoonful size blobs of dough all over the top of the caramel.
  • Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. The center should be set but still jiggly.
  • Immediately, sprinkle with the flakey sea salt.
  • Allow the bars to cool on the counter for about 30 minutes and then chill in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.  They will be much easier to cut after chilling but they do not need to be stored in the refrigerator.