This is one of the recipes I tried back when I first discovered Kraft Caramel Bits. It's called Caramel Crunch Bars, and it's originally from the Kraft website. Along with being no-bake, the bars are easy to put together and have a lot of different textural elements.
As I made these again to take new photographs, all I could think of were how these are kind of like the Snoopy Thanksgiving version of bar cookies. There's no popcorn and toast involved, but I felt like I was just throwing together a bunch of snack food and calling it a bar cookie. That didn't stop me from loving all of the textures and flavors.
Another fun thing about this recipe is you don't have to make the whole pan. For half batch, use half of the ingredients and a smaller pan. Make a quarter batch. Make an eighth of a batch. The recipe scales just fine.
Kraft Caramel Crunch Bar Tips
- Use non-stick foil or parchment paper because the recipe is sticky. If you use cooking spray or butter, use a lot of it.
- You can substitute unwrapped caramels for the bits.
- If you want more control over how you drizzle the melted chocolate, melt it in a microwave as usual, then spoon the melted chocolate in a little zipper bag. Snip a very tiny hole in the bottom corner of the bag and squeeze the melted chocolate out of the bag. It's really fun.
- The recipe calls for peanuts, but you can use any nut you have on hand. Obviously.
Recipe
Kraft Caramel Crunch Bars
Ingredients
- 4-½ ounces graham crackers
- 11 oz package of Kraft Caramel Bits
- 2 tablespoons milk
- ½ cup salted peanuts
- ½ cup miniature marshmallows
- ½ cup coarsely crushed pretzels
- 4 oz semisweet chocolate melted
Instructions
- Line an 8-inch square pan with nonstick foil or parchment paper.
- Lay graham crackers across the bottom of the pan.
- Heat the caramel bits and milk in microwave-safe bowl on high for 2 minutes or until caramel bits are completely melted and mixture is blended, stirring every 30 seconds. Alternatively, you can melt the caramels and milk together in a small saucepan.
- Pour melted caramel over graham crackers and sprinkle with peanuts, marshmallows and pretzels.
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave by heating on high and stirring every 30 seconds. Drizzle over the bars.
- Refrigerate until set. Lift from pan and cut into squares.
Georgia Stanford says
I have an 11 oz bag of bits and would like to know how much to use for
32 carmels?
Valerie says
Hi, I'm a total lurker, but I just wanted to say that I've got a recipe for you to try based on your own recipe to test out these caramel bits. I baked Caramel Macchiato cookies today based on your half-batch of chocolate chip cookies. The only substitutions I made were: extra egg yolk, 1T of espresso powder creamed with the sugar and coffee extract instead of vanilla. Of course, the caramels were added with the chocolate chips and no nuts. Its HIGHLY important to use parchment paper to bake them because the caramel even stuck to my silpat mats. After they come out of the oven, leave them on the parchment on the cooling rack until completely cool so the caramel hardens. They are absolutely delish!
Brenda says
I'm so glad you tried this first..lol! I bought some bits but haven't tried them yet. I do have the recipe printed out to try. I may use pecans or leave the nuts off since DH doesn't like them.