Saturday, September 02, 2006

A (pre) Labor Day treat



Bobbie’s Bars
Helping Our Kids Grow (fundraiser cookbook) Copyright 2000

32 caramels
5 T. evaporated milk
1 c. flour
1 c. oatmeal
¾ c. brown sugar
½ tsp. soda
½ tsp. salt
¾ c. butter or margarine
6 oz. chocolate chips

Melt, cool and set aside: caramels and evaporated milk. Combine crumb mixture: flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, soda, salt and butter or margarine. Press half in 9x13 pan. (This must be wrong. For this amount use an 8x8 or 11 x7 pan) Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Then sprinkle with: chocolate chips and nuts (what nuts? no nuts mentioned in ingredient list). Spread with caramel mixture then sprinkle with remaining half crumb mixture. Bake 15 to 20 minutes longer. Chill and cut into bars.
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I've been trying to think of how I could explain what I did here without confusing you too much. I always try to give you the recipe exactly how the cookbook presented it. However, when I found this recipe, even though it sounded good, my gut told me that the pan size was wrong. And nuts are mentioned in the body and not the ingredient list. As much as I love fundraiser cookbooks, they often have inaccuracies. So I did a little more research.

It appears that these bars are more commonly called 'Oatmeal Caramelitas'. The recipe in the cookbook (the recipe above) was probably for an 11 x7 or 8 x8-inch pan. I doubled the recipe for the crumb mixture for a 13x9-inch pan. I used a 14-ounce bag of caramels and a 5-ounce can of evaporated milk but my caramel was on the loose side - not too loose but you might want to cut back on the milk by a couple of tablespoons. I used an entire bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (milk chocolate would have been great here too). We can't have nuts but other recipes call for 1/2 cup of pecans or walnuts for a 13x9-inch pan. Nuts would be great in these but they were great without the nuts too.

I made these to take to a Labor Day cookout (well, a Labor Day weekend party). These are way too decadent to make and leave around the house (unless you're the Duggar family). Besides unwrapping the caramels, these were pretty simple to put together. They were lost in a sea of way too much food and way too many other desserts but they still went over well. I know one person loved them and I know at least one person was disappointed that I didn't bring my banana cake again. There are just too many desserts to keep making the same thing over and over.

I tried to confiscate some of the leftover bars but I failed. I was really sad about that. I'm still thinking about these.

Question of the Day: Do you have any 'standards' that people expect or want you to make over and over?

4 comments:

Red Dirt Mummy said...

Mmmm... these look really yummy!
One SIL demands my fruit-salad at every family gathering - It's just fruit-salad with some honey drizzled over for heaven's sake. Any moron can make it! Once my allergy to citrus and pineapple was diagnosed I felt justified in refusing LOL. Now it's my potato salad or my white chocolate cheesecake. C'mon people, let me try something new! Please????

DancesInGarden said...

Nothing standard, although I wish they would stop having me make desserts or "picking up buns". I am the only one that cooks, let somebody else buy coleslaw or stop at the bakery. And I am not into sweets, desserts don't inspire me at all. Now veggies, there is something I can get excited about LOL!

Unknown said...

Ha...love the Duggar comment! These bars look delicious! I love caramel. My mom's best friend is ALWAYS asked to bring her chocolate chip cookies. I don't know that I have a standard that I'm asked to bring...people just say bring whatever you want, we know that it will be delicious! Mama likes my white chocolate banana toffee pie.

ThursdayNext said...

Those look delicious and perfect for the fall. :)

My family expects to be invited over for my bolognese sauce at least twice over the winter months.