I had been raving about the Dream Bars at Potbelly’s and finally my mom asked me to bring her one so she could try it.  As per usual, after a few bites of the sugary oatmeal, caramel and chocolate chip confection she said, ” I think we can do better, or at least as good”.  You can decide.

While Potbelly’s Dream Bars are soft, from being wrapped in plastic, ours have several distinct layers: crumbly oatmeal topping, creamy caramel and crunchy shortbread. Mom likes to add toasted walnuts or pecans to hers to cut the sweetness but for me and my  friends, the sweeter the better so I don’t add nuts.

Originally we used the wonderful but pricey Knudsen caramels but many sheet pans of cookies later my mom put her foot down and told me if I wanted to keep on baking sheet pans of cookies for my swim team I’d have  to make my own caramel and so she taught me. One day we’ll update the recipe to reflect our caramel recipe.

Daniel

Utensils:

• ½ sheet pan (18” by 13”)
• Mixing bowls/tools
• Measuring tools
• Parchment paper

Ingredients:

• • For Crust/Topping:
• • 5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (25 ounces)
• • 1 ⅓ cup granulated sugar (about 9 1/2 ounces)
• • 1 teaspoon table salt
• • 32 tablespoons unsalted butter (4 sticks) plus 2 tablespoons, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and softened to cool room temperature ProTip: To soften butter but keep cool, beat it with a rolling pin while in the package before cutting.
• • ½ cup packed light brown sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
• • 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (6 ounces)
• • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• • For Filling:
• • 26 ounces good quality caramels
• • ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
• • 8 ounces good quality chocolate chips (Ghirardelli is preferred)

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