A mini recipe for the amazing carmelita bars, featuring a vegan caramel that you can whip up in seconds.

I went to Austin TX and visited my mecca: Whole Foods.

Well, this one was a whole foods-apolis! It legit had a wine bar, a smoking barbecue station, a bakery and a coffee shop in it.

I had already hoarded way too many snacks while in TX (such as these whiskey baked granolas!) so I allowed myself one treat: got these carmelita bars.

I had never had one before the trip to Austin and got to try them while visiting the Google office at lunch hour.

I mean, it’s oatmeal cookie crust, caramel, chocolate, pecans, and more oatmeal cookie crust. Whoever invented these must have been living inside my brain. Hits every single taste bud.

I brought some of my whole foods carmelita back home to reverse engineer of course. That way I can write down the recipe and make a mini-batch whenever I darn well please. In a (twisted, food obsessed) way the happiness of the treat stays with me forever.

So join me in making these, share with your family, and don’t worry about leftovers because there will be NONE.

PS. I made a vegan no-bake no-cook “caramel” for these, because I’m not about to deal with actual caramel for a mini-batch effort. If you prefer you can also use one large medjool date soaked in hot water 10 minutes, drained, and mashed with a fork (don’t forget to sprinkle some salt).

We tested and loved them both ways.

Inspired by these carmelitas from King Arthur flour website.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Mini-batch Carmelitas

Prep Time5

Cook Time30

Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Keyword: caramel, carmelita, carmelitas, easy recipes, gluten-free, oatmeal, oatmeal bars, plant-based, raspberry, small-batch, vegan

Servings: bars

Calories: 206kcal

Equipment

Small baking pan or muffin pan

Ingredients

Oatmeal cookie dough

2 tbsp (plant) butter softened (28 g)
2 tbsp brown/coconut sugar (24 g) you can sub white sugar
1/4 cup flour (30 g) gf all purpose if desired
1/4 cup oats (20 g) rolled or quick
1/8 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt

Caramel topping

1 tbsp nut/seed butter (16 g) I used almond butter
2 tsp maple syrup (14 g)
pinch of salt

Filling

1 1/2 tbsp chocolate chips (22 g) df if desired
2 tbsp chopped pecans (14 g) sub other nuts if you prefer

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F and line a small baking pan with parchment (or use a muffin pan/liners).
In a small bowl add your caramel topping ingredients and stir to combine (microwaving for 10 min can help soften your nut butter and increase the caramely flavor from the maple syrup).
In a bowl cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. You can use a hand mixer or fork.
In a separate bowl whisk together all dry ingredients. Stir the dry ingredients into the cream mixture until combined. This will be crumbly.
Press 2/3 of the mixture into the pan, bake 8 minutes, cool for a few more minutes.
Spread caramel on your baked cookie crust.
Sprinkle chocolate and pecans, and gently press down.
Crumble the rest of the mixture on top, pressing down gently.
Bake 20-22 minutes until lightly browned and caramel layer bubbling on the sides. This will be 15-20 minutes if you use a muffin pan instead.
Let your bars cool and firm up completely before slicing. Enjoy!

Notes

Instead of making the vegan caramel for the recipe, you can also use one large medjool date soaked in hot water, drained and mashed with a fork (don’t forget to sprinkle some salt). I’ve also made it with mashed raspberries, they were not carmelitas but they were SO GOOD.
If you double the recipe use a standard loaf pan. If you 4x it, use an 8×8 baking pan.