Chocolate Caramel Bars made with just 4 simple ingredients! Easy buttery crust topped with a quick caramel then swirled with melted chocolate. You may even already have the ingredients on hand, meaning there’s no time to waste if you’re in the mood for fast and easy homemade sweets.
I love chocolate caramel candy bars and when I found this winning recipe to make my own at home I just knew that I had to share it with all of you. This chocolate caramel bars recipe is borderline addictive with its buttery flavored caramel and chocolate swirls. It really reminds me a lot of a chocolate toffee candy bar, but this is so much better. Soft, chewy and easy enough to make that you’ll be looking for excuses to bring it to your next gathering or function.
Making these chocolate caramel bars
When you make these caramel bars, it’s important to remember to keep an eye on the caramel as you make it on the stove. You’re bringing the sugar and butter to a boil to create your own homemade caramel and then it gets baked again in the oven, so if you overcook it on the stove, the oven will make it brittle.
Keeping a close eye on the timer and the way your caramel is coming along is vital for ensuring success with this delicious candy. We want the end results to be a soft and chewy caramel, not a hard brittle toffee.
What is the difference between toffee and caramel?
Caramel and toffee are pretty similar. They use almost the same ingredients, look like a shade of brown and are both delicious. The major difference is that toffee gets cooked to a higher internal temperature, and becomes hard and crunchy whereas caramel is more soft and chewy.
How long can you keep homemade caramel?
Homemade caramel can last up to 2 weeks if stored properly inside an airtight container. You can keep it at room temperature during that time as well although keeping it in the fridge will not do it any harm.
Caramel chocolate bar ingredients
-1 cup flour
-½ cup + ¼ cup brown sugar
-¼ cup+ ⅓ cup salted butter
-½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
How to make chocolate caramel bars
Heat your oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8×8 glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, ½ cup of brown sugar, and ¼ cup of butter with two forks or a pastry cutter. Press this mixture onto the bottom of the glass pan.
In a small saucepot over medium heat, melt the remaining ⅓ cup of butter and then add in the ¼ cup of brown sugar and stir. Bring the mix to a boil and let it boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and pour over the crust.
Bake for 15 minutes, being careful not to overbake.
Remove from the oven and then sprinkle your chocolate chips over the top. Gently swirl the melted chocolate together with the caramel using a thin knife.
Let the candy cool completely and then cut it into bars. Serve and enjoy!
CHOCOLATE CARAMEL BARS
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup + 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup + 1/3 cup salted butter
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8x8 glass pan with non-stick spray.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup butter. Use 2 forks or a pastry cutter to combine, until mixture is crumbly. Press into bottom of 8x8 pan.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt remaining 1/3 cup butter. Add in 1/4 cup brown sugar and stir. Bring to a boil, then boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and pour over crust.
- Bake for 15 minutes. (Do not over bake or you will have toffee bars! 😉
- Remove from oven. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of caramel and swirl gently with a knife. Let cool completely. Cut into bars and ENJOY!!
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Are toffee and caramel the same thing?
While toffee and caramel both contain the same primary ingredients, the two are not the same. Toffee is more often used for brittles whereas caramel can be used for a wide variety of different candies and sauces.
Does caramel need to be refrigerated?
Caramel does not need to be kept in the fridge, but keeping it nice and cool doesn’t hurt. Keeping your chocolate caramel bars in the fridge inside an airtight container may extend the shelf life by a few more days if you don’t eat it beforehand.
Does caramel freeze well?
Surprisingly, caramel can freeze very well and knowing that it can help to lift your holiday spirit. Making thee delicious chocolate caramel bars weeks in advance and keeping them in the freezer before a major holiday means that you can have delicious homemade sweets that just need to be thawed and eaten.
To freeze the chocolate caramel bars, make sure that you have them already cut into serving-sized bars. Place them in an airtight container and add a layer of parchment or wax paper in between if you have to stack layers. Let them come to room temp for about an hour before eating.
If you enjoyed these Chocolate Caramel Bars, you’ve got to check out these other caramel treats:
- Caramel Apple Bread
- Homemade Snickers Bars
- Caramel Krispie Treats
- Microwave Pumpkin Spice Caramels
- Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Homemade Caramels
- Chocolate Caramel Apples
- Caramel Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Marshmallow Caramel Popcorn
- Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Caramel Turtle Pie
Chocolate Caramel Bars made with just 4 simple ingredients! Easy buttery crust topped with a quick caramel then swirled with melted chocolate.
Natalie says
I’m wanting to make this recipe for my family. Could I put melted chocolate over it instead of chocolate chips? I’m doing chocolate covered strawberries so I will have melted chocolate.
Jessica says
That would work fine!
Sherry Cantar says
Mine don’t look anything like this? The caramel mixture was very dark so you don’t even see the swirl. Maybe I over cooked the butter sugar mixture?
Rae says
Turned out perfectly! Very easy to make. Directions were very easy to follow. Quick cookie that is delicious! I added chopped pecans between the crust and the carmel. It was fantastic will definitely add everytime I make this.
Janice A Lucas says
can you use caramel ice cream topping instead of making the caramel sauce recipe?
Jessica says
ABSOLUTELY!! : )
Gloria says
This recipe sounds great! I’d like to make it in a 9 x 13 Pyrex pan. Do you have any idea how I could adjust the ingredients?
Thanks so much!
Gloria
Jessica says
I’d double the recipe for a 9×13 Gloria!
Gloria says
Jessica, thank you so much for your reply! I am making this recipe today to take to a party. I’ll try to remember to report back on how it turned out in the 9×13 pan.
Thanks, again! I really appreciate your reply!
Gloria
Gloria says
We made these for a birthday party this weekend and they were a hit! Even got a recipe request. We made them in a 9×13 Pyrex, doubling the ingredients as Jessica had suggested in her reply. It was difficult to figure out how long to bake. It baked maybe 15 minutes longer. We added the chocolate chips, then thought the crust still did not look done. We did not want a crust too crumbly to slice, so we put it back in a few minutes. Of course, then we could not do the pretty swirls, so we spread the chocolate and added sprinkles to make it look pretty. We were wondering if the crust could not be baked first until almost done and then add the caramel layer and bake a bit longer? In any case, they sliced perfectly and were delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
Jessica says
So glad to hear Gloria! I think adding chocolate and sprinkles is a great idea! So glad you liked them.
I haven’t tried baking the crust first- to make the caramel heat up enough to turn to caramel it has to bake the full amount of time. I haven’t done a lot of testing in a 9×13 pan though!