Caramel Apple Oatmeal Pecan Bars

Makes: 30 bars Prep time: 40 minutes Bake time: 22 to 25 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup quick cooking oats

1 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup cold unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup chopped pecans

1, 21 ounce can apple pie filling, ( I used Lucky Leaf Organic)

1, 14 ounce can of condensed milk

24 Kraft caramels

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line the bottom of a 13″x9″ pan with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking soda and salt.  Cut in the cold butter with a pastry cutter until it is crumbly. Reserve 1 and 1/2 cups of the topping and set aside.  Add the pecans to the reserved topping mixture.

Press the base crust into your prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes. Place your pan on top of another pan to make sure it doesn’t get too brown in the oven.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the condensed milk and caramels for one minute.  Take out and stir, then microwave for another minute.  Whisk together the caramels and condensed milk until they are all combined.  Add the 1/4 teaspoon vanilla.

Spread the apple pie filling over the partially baked crust.

Pour the caramel mixture over the pie filling.

Sprinkle the reserved pecan and crust crumble over the caramel.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until the top is lightly golden brown and not too jiggly 🙂

Cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, then put in the fridge for several hours before cutting it. The bars need to be very cold so they hold their shape.  Store them in the fridge for up to a week, or wrapped in wax paper and foil in the freezer for up to a  month.