These Salted Caramel Butter bars are one of my most requested recipes ever! The buttery cookie is filled with a creamy, salted caramel that is so rich and beyond delicious.
I can’t begin to explain to you how much I love these Salted Caramel Butter Bars…I make them ALL THE TIME. They are one of my most requested desserts to bring to parties and there is never one left! And might I add, if you happen to be entering a cookie contest, these will guarantee you victory. Unequivocally.
The base is a buttery shortbread that comes together very easily and the filling is simply caramels, milk or cream, and a little salt! You can use pre-made caramels, or even a thick caramel sauce. I do recommend using caramels over sauce, because I think the texture is more chewy and hold up better than sauce, but so many of you who have made this recipe let me know that you have used caramel sauce and it’s worked out well!
How To Make Salted Caramel Butter Bars
It’s all a pretty easy process, just a few steps, honestly: you make dough, you divide dough, you bake some of the dough, you chill some of the dough…
Looking For More Caramel Recipes? Try These:
Salted Caramel Butter Bars
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 50
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 24 bars 1x
- Category: Cookie Bars
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Dessert
Description
Salted Caramel Butter Bars are a buttery shortbread filled with creamy salted caramel! A MUST MAKE!
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 2 cups salted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 4 cups all purpose flour
For the Filling:
- 14 ounces soft caramel candies (about 50 individual caramels), unwrapped
- 1/3 cup milk or cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- optional – 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°. Coat a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter, granulated sugar, and powdered sugar together on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the vanilla and mix until combined. Turn the mixer to low and add in the flour, mixing until a soft dough forms.
- Press one-third of the dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Wrap the remaining dough in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until the edges are a pale golden brown. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool about 15 minutes.
To Make the Filling:
- While the bottom crust is baking and the remaining dough is chilling, make the caramel filling. Place the unwrapped caramels in a microwave-safe bowl. Add the milk or cream. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Remove from the microwave and stir until smooth. If caramels are not completely melted, microwave on high for 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval, until smooth.
- Once the caramel is melted add in your ½ teaspoon of vanilla and stir until combined.
- Pour the caramel filling over the cooled crust. If you are going to salt the caramel sprinkle it on caramel layer now.
- Remove the remaining chilled dough from the refrigerator and crumble it evenly over the caramel.
- Return the pan to the oven and bake until the filling is bubbly and the crumbled shortbread topping is firm and lightly golden, about 25 – 30 minutes.
- Let cool completely before cutting into squares.
Notes
- Store airtight for up to 5 days
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 423
- Sugar: 39.9 g
- Sodium: 515.9 mg
- Fat: 18.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 60.6 g
- Protein: 4.3 g
- Cholesterol: 43.6 mg
Oh man, I've been in my own sort of funk, to the point of not even wanting to bake. That's when you know it's a really bad funk! Maybe these can bring me out of it 🙂
Any suggestion for a homemade version of the caramel filling? We can't get caramel candies where I live… Thanks for another yummy looking recipe!
yeah, no caramel candies here either. I wonder if caramel syrup would do?
Caramel sauce or syrup would probably work, but you just wouldn’t have that chewy caramel layer, it would be a softer layer, and may absorb into the shortbread a little..but I bet it would still be good!
Can I use gluten-free AP flour?
I haven’t ever made these gluten free, but I have used the brand Cup 4 Cup in other recipes and it’s fantastic!
Can you tell me if I can use a regular hand mixer or by hand to make dough? I don’t have a mixer stand or paddle. Thx
You can use a hand mixer, just be careful to not over mix the dough!
See my post above using caramel ice cream topping and flour. Caramel syrup is too thin in comparison to ice cream topping and won’t work well. During baking, it will bubble up through the top layer and bake into the bars. It will also leak through the sides and become hard, especially as it cools. Some of the syrup will soak into the base our could soak through.
I make homemade caramels every year at Christmas and we just used those. Homemade caramel is pretty easy (and you can find recipes online). They were delicious in this!
If you submerge (this is crucial) a 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk in a pan of water and simmer about 3 hours, upon opening the can you will discover the most delicious caramel! As a note, if the can is not submerged the entire time it’s boiling, I’ve been told things could go terribly wrong. Something about the pressure build up in the can…you get the picture.
Borden’s doesn’t recommend caramelizing their sweetened condensed milk directly in the can. If you go to their website you will find they have 3 methods for doing it other that in the can for safety reasons.
I’ve tried this using my slow cooker,on low over night totally and absolutely cover the can with water. Works great and is so easy and delicious.
I make caramel this way all the time. It’s the only one I’ll eat, it is the best! I put in a large pot, cover with water, and boil for several hours, checking after each hour and top with more water, as needed. Been doing this for years, with no problems!
Yes! Combine a 12.5 ounce jar of caramel ice cream topping with 3 level measuring tablespoons all-purpose flour; mix well until completely blended. This will cover a crumb layer for a 13×9-inch pan of bars and was is the original caramel filling in the Pillsbury Bake-Off finalist recipe for Oatmeal Caramelitas. It has always been one of their most requested recipes. It still won’t be as tacky and stiff as the melted Kraft caramels, but don’t be tempted to add more flour or the caramel will taste “floury.” It will be delicious but a softer caramel.
I’ve used the boiled sweetened condensed milk version of caramel for years. My family won’t eat anything else lol. I refuse to jinx myself beyond saying that done carefully it does work! Here’s a link with several ways of doing it explained. I use #1 — do NOT NOT NOT let the water get closer than an inch to the can — if you have to add water, make sure it’s boiling water! 🙂 Biggest problem is that it takes a long time to do — enough so that you if you’ve got the funk and need your fix quickly, this ain’t the recipe for you 😉 Oh yeah — I’ve always cooked mine for 3 hours (we make homemade turtles and it’s perfect consistency for that) but I think I’d do about 2 hours and 22.5 (I couldn’t decide 20 or 25 so I split the difference *grin*) minutes for this recipe
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Caramel-from-Sweetened-Condensed-Milk
I was planning on using the caramelized sweetened condensed milk myself, but I can’t decide – do you use it straight as is, or still thin with milk and vanilla???
I use a condensed milk version
2 cans cond milk
140gm of butter
2 TBSP of golden syrup
1/4 C brown sugar
Melt all together then allow to cool 10 mins
wow
I like it
🙂
I've made these bars from that book before and oh. my. gosh….SO good! We re-named them the 7,000 calorie bars, but they're so delicious we don't even care how sinful they are!
Those look incredible!! I will be trying them for sure!! Good luck with your funk!
These look delightful…and no wonder with that amount of buttery goodness! Guess what, it's 2.07pm here and I'm in my pj's too!!! Ahh, maybe I should go some buttery treats to get me up and about?
Hehe – love the post title but most of all love these treats. They look super delicious.
Oh Em Gee. I wish we were neighbors so I could come over and gossip about skeevy Michael Lohan while we scarfed down a bunch of these yummy looking bars.
Didn't you say you were in the market for a vacation home in rural Arkansas?
Yep, pretty sure you did. 😉
These look just awesome.
OMG – I might die of deliciousness. And let's be honest, a day where you can catch up on an entire season or dvr'd shows is never a waste!
Holy crap! Those sound and look delicious. They're going on the xmas baking short list. Hope you're out of your funk. Skinny jeans are overrated. ; )