Oatmeal Cookie Bars

Caramel and apples create a classic fall flavor combo, but let’s be honest: Making caramel can be both frustrating and time-consuming. So, we often leave the caramel production to the professionals at our local orchard or state fair, which means enjoying these sumptuous flavors together only once or twice a year.

These caramel apple oatmeal cookie bars are about to change everything! A simple hack uses store-bought caramels to cut down on time in the kitchen, so the hardest part will be waiting for the bars to cool before you dig in. (PS: When you’re ready to try your hand again, give our salted caramel sauce a whirl and avoid these caramel-making mistakes!)

Ingredients for Oatmeal Cookie Bars

• Butter and shortening: Butter creates flavor, but too much of it can make a dessert feel heavy and dense. That’s why we use shortening too. Shortening is lighter than butter so it doesn’t weigh down the texture or taste of the oatmeal bar cookies.
• Brown sugar: We sweeten these oatmeal cookie bars with brown sugar because the caramelly taste pairs perfectly with the apples and caramel sauce. Feel free to use granulated sugar in brown sugar’s place if that’s all you have on hand.
• All-purpose flour: We mix all-purpose flour with oats so the base and topping still have some softness and aren’t completely oaty and chewy.
• Oats: Feel free to use either quick-cooking oats or old-fashioned oats. Quick-cooking oats are the thinnest type of oat and will break down more, creating a very soft texture. Old-fashioned oats are a bit thicker and will hold their shape better during baking, creating a chewier, oatier texture. Use whichever sounds best to you!
• Baking soda: A touch of baking soda fluffs up the base and topping of the oatmeal bar cookies so both are nice and soft instead of dense like a hockey puck.
• Pecans: Crunchy pecans add a nice bite to the oatmeal cookie base and topping. Toast the nuts beforehand to invigorate the pecan’s naturally rich and nutty flavors.
• Filling: The filling for these oatmeal cookie bars is an autumnal caramel-apple dream. It’s mostly made up of cubed apples that break down during baking, and a bit of flour thickens the apple’s juices into a sticky sauce. It doesn’t stop there: The apples are covered in a buttery caramel sauce, making everything taste like a caramel apple straight from the state fair.

Directions

Step 1: Mix the crust ingredients

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Preheat your oven to 400°F. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl using a hand mixer), cream the butter, shortening and brown sugar until light and fluffy, five to seven minutes. Then add the flour, oats, salt and baking soda; mix well. If desired, stir in the pecans.

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Measure and set aside 2 cups of this mixture. Press the remaining mixture into an ungreased 13×9-inch baking pan.

Step 2: Prepare the apples

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In a medium bowl, toss the apples with the all-purpose flour. Spoon the apples over the crust in an even layer.

Editor’s Tip: You’ll need about four large apples for this recipe. For more complex flavors, pick two varieties of apples, like Granny Smith and Pink Lady, and use two apples of each variety.

Step 3: Make the world’s easiest caramel sauce

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For our caramel sauce hack, place all the caramel candies in a saucepan with the butter, and melt over low heat.

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Then simply drizzle the caramel sauce over the apples.

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Last, top the caramel and apples with the reserved oat mixture.

Step 4: Bake the oatmeal bar cookies

Bake the bars until they’re lightly browned, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely to room temperature before cutting into bars.

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Recipe Variations

• Add your favorite nuts: Feel free to swap in another nut for the pecans as you please. Walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts would be fantastic in these oatmeal bar cookies.
• Sprinkle in fall baking spices: Caramel and apples form an autumnal dream duo, but there’s room for fall spices to take the cozy flavors up a notch. Sprinkle in apple pie spice, cinnamon, ginger and/or nutmeg as desired.
• Use your own caramel sauce: If you have your own caramel sauce recipe (or have a jar sitting in the fridge right now), you absolutely can use that instead of our easy caramel sauce. You’ll need about 12 ounces caramel sauce to replace the one in our recipe.

How to Store Oatmeal Cookie Bars

Let your oatmeal cookie bars cool completely to room temperature. Wrap the pan tightly with storage wrap or, if there’s only a little bit left, transfer the bars to an airtight container to save room in your fridge. The oatmeal bar cookies can be kept in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat a bar in the microwave to awaken the sticky, gooey caramel sauce.

Can you freeze oatmeal cookie bars?

Yes, you can freeze these oatmeal bar cookies. Cool the bars completely to room temperature, then either wrap the pan in storage wrap, followed by a layer of aluminum foil, or transfer the bars to an airtight container. If you’re stacking them in the container, lay a sheet of waxed paper or parchment between each layer so the bars don’t stick together, otherwise you’ll be yanking them apart later.

How do you reheat oatmeal cookie bars?

Rewarm the bars, uncovered, on a baking sheet in a 350° oven until warmed through, or thaw the bars overnight in the fridge and rewarm pieces in the microwave.

Oatmeal Cookie Bar Tips

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Can you bake these oatmeal cookie bars in a different pan?

You sure can! If you don’t have a 13×9-inch baking pan, you can use a 12-inch skillet, two 9-inch round pans or two 8-inch square pans instead. Dividing the oatmeal bar cookies between two pans also allows you to freeze one batch to eat another day or to pass out to neighbors.

What are the best apples for baking?

The best apples for baking are tart, firm apples such as Granny Smith or Honeycrisp. You’ll want to avoid bland, mealy apples, like Red Delicious and McIntosh, at all costs. Those types of apples are best for cooking applications where the apples really need to break down, as in applesauce or apple butter.