I made these for New Years Eve and they were a hit. I was trying to find something different, easy, and not chocolate. I have a ton of Betty Crocker cookie mixes in my house so I went to the Betty Crocker website to find a recipe using the cookie mixes. I ended up choosing this one that uses an oatmeal cookie mix. I have to admit the dough was kind of a pain to press into the pan. It is very sticky. I tried different things but the thing that worked best was to use my silicone spatula and spray it with some non-stick spray. If it started to stick to the spatula, I used the cooking spray again. Also, 1 1/2 cups of the dough mix set aside was too much. I don’t think I’d ever be able to cover the bottom of the pan with what was left. I would suggest you set aside 1 1/4 cup of dough. If you need a little more to cover the bottom of your pan, fell free to take a little more of the reserved dough.
Caramel Apple Bars
1/2 cup cold butter
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® oatmeal cookie mix
1 egg
1 cup finely chopped peeled apple
3/4 cup caramel topping
1/4 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom of 13×9-inch pan with cooking spray.
In large bowl, cut butter into cookie mix using fork or pastry blender. Stir in egg until mixture is crumbly.
Reserve 1 1/2 cups cookie mixture (I would do 1 1/4 cups) . Press remaining cookie mixture into bottom of pan. Bake 15 minutes. Sprinkle apple evenly over crust. In small bowl, mix caramel topping and flour; drizzle over apples. Sprinkle reserved cookie mixture over apples.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely, about 2 hours. For bars, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows.
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Heat oven to 375°F. In step 4, bake 23 to 28 minutes.
