I first made these Caramel Apple Oat Squares years ago when I clipped the recipe from a magazine. I love caramels and apples, especially together, so I knew I would like this dessert! It’s kind of like having a caramel apple pie, but a little easier and quicker to make! And I like that it has oats in the crust. I added some cinnamon to the crumb mixture and substituted chopped pecans for the walnuts, but you can use either.

This has been in my recipe file for quite a while and I recently came across it again at EagleBrand.com.  So I thought it would be a great time to make these, take a few photos, and share the recipe with you!

CARAMEL APPLE OAT SQUARES slightly adapted  from Eagle Brand®

Makes a 13 x 9″ pan

• 1 3/4 cups unsifted all-purpose flour (I used unbleached)
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter, cut into chunks
• 1 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)
• 20 caramels, unwrapped
• 1 (14-oz.) can Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 1 (21-oz.) can apple pie filling (I saw a version of this recipe where someone used fresh thinly sliced apples, but they didn’t say how many…I think 2 cups would work if you wanted to try that)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Cut in chunks of butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1 1/2 cups crumb mixture; press remainder on the bottom of an ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from oven.

In small bowl, add chopped nuts to reserved crumb mixture; set aside.

In heavy saucepan, melt caramels with sweetened condensed milk over low heat, stirring until smooth.

Spoon apple pie filling (or thinly sliced fresh apples if you’re wanting to try that) over the partially baked crust. Top with caramel mixture, then the reserved crumb-nut mixture.

Bake 35-40 minutes or until set. Let cool about 5–10 minutes, then cut into squares and serve while still warm. These taste great served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, too!

Sometimes the caramel mixture bubbles up around the edges while baking…don’t be alarmed if yours is doing this…it will settle down when it’s out of the oven! You may need to loosen the caramel from the edges of the pan as you’re cutting this into squares.

Note: If you cut these into squares of 8, which would be a pretty good size, each piece is about 550 calories. You can always cut them into smaller squares of 12 if you’re counting calories!