Caramilk Oat Bars

   Oh yes, you read that right....Caramilk, as in a Caramilk bar....oh yeah....
   So, again I mention my sisters Carmelitas, and again I mention how I was feeling too lazy to open the caramels required to make said Carmelitas, or to take the hour to make some homemade caramel....so, I took what this world had to offer in the way of chocolate and caramel, and I used that instead. 
   It's the Caramilk Oat Bar. And it. Is. Good.

Caramilk Oat Bar

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup Brown sugar
  
• 1 Cup gluten free flour (regular flour works here too)
• 1 cup oats
• 1 Tsp baking soda
• 3/4 Cup butter, melted 
• 9 Caramilk Thick bars (the regular ones would work too, but I wanted a nice thick caramel and chocolate layer)

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350, and prepare an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper, leaving some overhang. Set aside
2. In a medium sized bowl mix together the sugar, flour, oats and baking soda.
3. Add the melted butter and combine. Press half of this mixture into the bottom of the pan and bake in pre-heated oven for 10 minutes.
4. Once the bottom is done, take it out of the oven and let it cool for a few minutes.
5.  Place the un-wrapped chocolate bars onto the crust so that they completely cover it
6. Finally, crumble the remaining oat mixture over the whole mess. Don't try to make it pretty, just take a handful and crumble it on
7. Bake for another 20 minutes, then remove from the oven to cool....completely! Let these cool for hours so that you don't ruin them!  Another option would be to take a spoon, and eat these bars right out of the pan when still warm and forget about making them into squares and sharing them. Just a suggestion. :)  

A double batch of these super yummy bars!

   I just need to ask one question before I go.....how do they get the Caramilk in the Caramilk bar....? When I was a wee child (not growing up in Ireland), this was the commercial they showed, maybe they still show a similar version? I was no smarty pants, but I thought it very obvious how they got the caramel in...but then because they made it seem so darned mysterious, I doubted myself....what a silly child I was, distracted by a commercial such as the one below. 
   I know now that my theories on how they got that caramel in were right (hello Google!), but, more importantly, I know it doesn't matter because they are delicious, and it doesn't much matter how they get the caramel in, only that they do! Am I right?

   Well, that rant is out there now, so let's move on.
  Have a good weekend!