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.
Salted Caramel Butter Bars are THE BEST Cookie Bar of ALL TIME!
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
Hello! I would love to try these, but am not huge on 4 sticks of butter…is there an alternate or way to reduce this without losing flavor or texture? I appreciation any suggestions!! 🙂
Sour cream
Wow! You gotta make these. They are phenomenal
So glad you liked them!!
I’ve made these twice now and everyone who has tried them absolutely loves them. I did not make any alterations to the recipe except baked a little longer. I use unwrapped kraft caramel bits. The dough isn’t easy to work with and it seems like it’s not going to turn out but they do and they’re amazing! Very rich, very delicious, a great special occasion treat.
Thank you so much for the comment and I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
These definitely weren’t the BEST of ALL TIME!!! They were just okay.
Made these twice and they are amazing. First time i used only 2/3 of the flour because i thought the dough was gonna be too dry, but the bars ended up a little too buttery (still good though, just veeery heavy). Second time i followed everything to a T and they were amazing.
The best thing is how well they freeze! I defrost and keep them in the fridge, and they taste great cold, straight out of the fridge. But you can also warm them in the microwave and you have beautiful bubbling caramel sauce oozing out between the buttery cake pieces. Heaven!! The sea salt is a must!
They do freeze very well!
I continue to make these for potlucks time and time again. I’m always asked for the recipe 🙂
This recipe was amazing. The shortbread was very tender and buttery (obviously). I received many compliments that it was the best shortbread they had tried. Thank you!
I did do a few things different: I whipped the butter and sugar for about 5 min, First bake, I did for only 16min, second back for 25 min, drizzled with chocolate and flake sea salt. Amazing stuff. Thank you again!
I make these every year for Christmas, and they are a hit! One question though…any tips for easy cutting? I always find that my bars come out fairly hard, and it can take some effort to cut the bars. Am I doing something wrong?
Doesn’t sound like you’re doing anything wrong…possibly over-baking them a little bit would be my only guess?
I have made this yearly for the past several years, and the one year I didn’t, I got very sad faces, so I’ll be making it again this year. It is really a wonderful recipe!
Love hearing this!!
Oh thank goodness you still reply to comments! I started making these 4 years ago and love them! I only make them once a year though. The past 2 years for some reason the bottoms of these bars came out super greasy and I can’t figure out what I’m doing differently! It’s driving me nuts. Any ideas?? Thank you!
I have actually had that happen to me as well. I found the type of caramel I use makes a difference. I have made them with both Kraft and the soft Werther’s and I think the Werther’s turns out better!
Can you explain the difference—-in the cookbook -this recipe calls for 2 cups of granulated sugar but the online version calls for 1 cup granulated and 1/2 cups powdered….just curious of how it will turn out with powdered (I used all granulated and LOVED them)
I adjusted the recipe in the book because after testing it using the apples in the book I liked the way the addition of granulated sugar added to the texture of the dough. Without the apples, the slightly softer dough made with powdered sugar works perfectly. I really think you will like them!