These blondies are very gooey! To have enough structure to hold all their caramel and candy goodness these bars are twice the thickness of a typical bar. I think you’ll agree… they are very decadent!

Gooey Caramel Blondies

3 cups lightly packed brown sugar
4 sticks unsalted butter, melted
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 and 1/2 cups regular oatmeal, uncooked
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon iodized salt
11.5 ounce Snickers minis or other caramel-peanut nougat bar, chopped
14 ounces caramel flavored sweetened condensed milk or dulce de leche

Preheat oven to 325 F. Mix first four ingredients in a large bowl. Mix flour, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in another bowl. Add flour mixture to butter mixture with an electric mixer until combined. Add chopped snickers bars. The dough will be thick like cookie dough but have a soft texture and feel like play dough. Press dough in the bottom of a 9 X 13 inch pan lined with foil and sprayed with non-stick spray. (Cut foil longer than you need and use excess as handles when removing bars from pan.)

Pour caramel flavored sweetened condensed milk over dough and use a knife to make three rows of 1 inch cuts halfway into the dough. The sweetened condensed milk will fill the slits and there will be a thin layer of condensed milk on top. If you use dulce de leche make your indentations with a spoon since it is thicker than sweetened condensed milk. Spoon dulce de leche into the indentations.

Bake 325 F for 60-65 minutes or until done. The blondies will still jiggle a little in the middle of the pan. Remove pan from oven and cool on a wire rack. It will take 2 to3 hours for the blondies to completely cool and set up enough to cut. To cut: remove blondies from pan using foil handles. Place blondies on a large cutting board and cut with a bread knife. Enjoy Friends!

Published in The News and Neighbor on December 2, 2015