These salted caramel butter bars are made with a buttery shortbread crust filled with a rich and creamy salted caramel layer! Soft, chewy and melt-in-your mouth delicious.
Sweet dessert bars are the perfect treat. Everyone loves these caramel apple pie bars, blondies and peanut butter bars, too!
Table of Contents
Salted Caramel Bars
Salted caramel butter bars are buttery like my ooey gooey butter cake with a caramel layer like carmelitas and a shortbread cookie crust. It’s worth the amount of butter and sugar in every bite!
These melt-in-your-mouth easy dessert bars come out full force after Halloween when I’ve got an unwrapped bag caramel candies leftover. When I don’t have a bag of caramel candy lying around, I whip up a quick salted caramel sauce instead.
Why These are the Best Cookie Bars
- Texture and flavor. They’re made with a sweet and salty chewy caramel filling sandwiched between a crispy and melt-in-your-mouth buttery shortbread.
- Easy to make. With just 30 minutes of prep time, most of which is baking the crust, these salted caramel bars are ready in just over 1 hour. Enjoy them on a Christmas dessert board or for a summer BBQ!
Ingredients Needed
See full printable recipe below.
- Butter: I like to use salted butter for the shortbread crust to balance out the amount of sugar. Remember to soften butter ahead of time to room temperature .
- Two kinds of sugar: Both granulated and powdered sugar are used to make the crust. Powdered sugar helps it to bind and adds a slightly chewy, melty texture and the granulated white sugar adds the sweetness.
- All-purpose flour: The base of the crust and topping, this type of flour keeps its structure and is perfect for a crumbly texture.
How to Make Salted Caramel Butter Bars
Cream room temperature butter and both sugars in a mixer, add vanilla then flour until a smooth soft dough forms. Press one-third of the dough into bottom of baking dish and bake for 20 minutes until pale golden brown. Cool bottom crust for 15 minutes.
Combine caramels and milk (or heavy cream) in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat on high for 1 minute and stir until smooth. Add vanilla then pour overtop cooled crust. Sprinkle with flaked sea salt (or coarse sea salt) then break up remaining chilled dough into crumbles and drop on top of the caramel layer.
Transfer the baking pan to the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove bars from the oven and allow it to cool and set completely. This makes 24 bars, but that all depends on how big or small you slice yours. Enjoy!
Baking Tips
- Grease your dish. Use cooking spray to create a non-stick surface. Yes, there’s fat from the butter, but there’s also quite a bit of sugar that can stick. To be able to easily remove the bars and keep their shape, you want to make sure to spray!
- The right amount of flour. Keep your bars from becoming too dense or dry by learning how to measure flour correctly.
- Do not overmix the dough. Just mix to combine that way it won’t be too tough and dense once it bakes and sets.
- Kitchen essentials. I use my stand mixer with the paddle attachment, but you can also use an electric hand mixer and a large bowl. You can also use a double boiler to melt the caramels if you prefer not to use a microwave.
If you love caramel as much as I do, you must make this homemade toffee, homemade twix bars or this twix cookies recipe, next!
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Salted Caramel Butter Bars
Video
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 ½ cups salted butter , at room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 ½ Tablespoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
Filling
- 14 ounces caramel candies , unwrapped (about 50 pieces)
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Flake sea salt
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the 1 1/2 cups butter, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, and 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes. Mix in the 1 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla until combined. Turn the mixer to low and mix in the flour, until a soft dough forms.
- Press 1/2 of the dough evenly into the bottom of the baking dish. Wrap the remaining dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.
- Bake the pressed dough for 15-20 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool 15 minutes.
Filling
- In a microwave-safe bowl, add unwrapped 50 caramel candies and 1/3 cup heavy cream. Microwave on high 1 minute. Remove and stir until smooth. If not completely melted, microwave on high for 30 seconds, stirring between each, until smooth. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla.
- Pour the caramel evenly over the crust, and sprinkle with flake sea salt.
- Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and crumble evenly over the top of the caramel.
- Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until the filling is bubbly and the topping is lightly golden brown.
- Let cool completely before cutting into 24 squares.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Recipe FAQs
You want to make sure to cover them in an airtight container so they don’t dry out. Leave them at room temperature or keep them chilled in the fridge, it’s up to you.
Wrap them individually in plastic wrap so you can thaw only what you need. You can also separate them by using parchment paper and storing them in a freezer-friendly bag. They’ll keep frozen for up to 3 months.
Caramel is made with sugar, cream, butter, and a pinch of salt. The addition of sea salt turns it into salted caramel showcasing a distinct sweet and salty flavor pairing.
A scoop of vanilla ice cream with an extra drizzle of caramel on top!
Categorized as: American, Bars, Christmas, Desserts, Freezer-Friendly, Nut-Free, Vegetarian
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
First tasted these Salted Caramel Bars at a B&B (The Sheridan Inn) in Williams, AZ, and had to have the recipe! Have made them for several friends and they all rave about them!!
So glad you enjoyed the caramel butter bars!
Hi there!
Would this recipe work with the caramel bits instead of the wrapped caramels?
Should work just fine! Enjoy!
This recipe is delicious!! Anytime I take it somewhere people rave about them.
This makes us so happy to hear! Glad you (and everyone :) ) enjoy them!
Made these with homemade salted bourbon caramel sauce. Very delicious!
I’m glad you enjoyed the butter bars Dawn!
My absolute favorite
It was a hit at my house. I must have done something wrong though because the bottom felt kind of oily. I wonder if this has happened to someone else.
Hi Vanessa, I’m glad your family enjoyed them! It’s hard to say without being there but there may not have been enough flour added.
Leftovers??? There were no leftovers!!!
Super delicious! Hardest part is unwrapping the caramels – lol
That is great to hear! I am so glad that you loved these bars SO much!!
Tastes like a goey butter cake with caramel. So good!!!
Question, could you add apple to this?
I haven’t tested that, but if you’re looking for an apple bar I would recommend these: https://www.iheartnaptime.net/caramel-apple-pie-bars/
Easy and delicious, this one is a keeper. I know I’m going to make it over and over again!
So happy to hear you loved it, Shadi! :)
These were so delicious! We will definitely make them again.
Glad to hear they were a success, Ashley! :)