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Home » Pumpkin Caramel Layer Bars

October 14, 2013

Pumpkin Caramel Layer Bars

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Pumpkin Caramel Layer Bars

On Friday I got to have a lunch date with my husband and see Gravity in 3D thanks to his company.  A couple times a year they rent out a theater and the employees get to go see one of the new movies that is out.  This is the first time they had extra tickets, and I was able to go too.  I can’t remember the last time we saw an adult movie in the theater, so it was a fun afternoon.  The only downside; they didn’t supply the popcorn.  Can you go to a movie and not get popcorn?  It is my favorite part!

Pumpkin Caramel Layer Bars

October is here.  I shared with you Pumpkin Cake Rice Krispie Treats, and brownies that used Pumpkin Spice M&M’s a couple weeks ago, but this is my first full on pumpkin recipe.  I finally gave in and opened a can of pumpkin.  I have 2 more in the pantry, so get ready.  Don’t worry, I won’t go crazy.  My husband doesn’t like pumpkin, so I don’t do too much with it.  I have a couple ideas, but I will take it easy.  Are you a big fan of pumpkin?

Pumpkin Caramel Layer Bars

We have been making Caramel Layer Bars in my family for years.  My grandma used to make them, and they have become a staple in my family.  I decided to make a pumpkin version.  I sent these to work with my husband, and they disappeared quickly.  He came home and said they got rave reviews from people.

4.62 from 13 votes
Pumpkin Caramel Layer Bars
Print
Pumpkin Caramel Layer Bars
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
Total Time
45 mins
 
Pumpkin Bars with a layer of gooey caramel.
Servings: 24
Ingredients
Pumpkin Bars
  • 3/4 cup butter , softened
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 3/4 cup flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
Filling
  • 1 (14 oz) package caramels, unwrapped
  • 2/3 cup evaporated milk
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 13x9 inch baking dish with non-stick spray or line with parchment paper.
  2. In a microwave safe bowl melt together caramels and evaporated milk. Heat for 45 seconds and a time.
  3. In the bowl for an electric mixer combing butter and brown sugar. Cream until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin puree. Mix until well combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
  4. Stir in flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
  5. Spread 2/3 of the batter into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Bake for 5 minutes.
  6. Remove from the oven sprinkle evenly with chocolate chips. Pour melted caramel. Drop spoonfuls of the remaining batter over the caramel.
  7. Bake for 25-30 minutes. A tester should come out clean from dough, there will be some caramel on it.

 

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Filed Under: Dessert Recipes, Pumpkin Recipes, Thanksgiving Recipes Tagged With: desserts, fall desserts, pumpkin, pumpkin bars, pumpkin blondies, pumpkin caramel

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jen @ Jen's Favorite Cookies says

    October 14, 2013 at 8:02 am

    This one is calling my name. It looks fantastic!

    Reply
  2. Christina says

    October 14, 2013 at 9:48 am

    These look great. So sad that your husband doesn’t like pumpkin. I can’t wait to see what else you have up your sleeve!

    Reply
  3. Renee @ Tortillas and Honey says

    October 14, 2013 at 3:17 pm

    Looks amazing! I am definitely making this! I knew I should have bought caramels this weekend!

    Reply
  4. Suzanne says

    October 14, 2013 at 3:41 pm

    Yummy pumpkin and caramel go so good together and these look so gooey delish!

    Reply
  5. Laura (Tutti Dolci) says

    October 14, 2013 at 4:45 pm

    These bars look so good, I love the pumpkin and caramel combo!

    Reply
  6. Emily @ Life on Food says

    October 14, 2013 at 5:17 pm

    I heard that movie was really good. Did you like it? That drippy caramel looks delicious. I bet these bars are fantastic.

    Reply
    • Erin S says

      October 14, 2013 at 6:17 pm

      We did both really like it. Amazing a movie can be good with only a few characters, definitely recommend!

      Reply
  7. Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says

    October 14, 2013 at 6:33 pm

    Mmm these sound super scrumptious!

    Reply
  8. Stephanie @ Eat. Drink. Love. says

    October 14, 2013 at 9:35 pm

    Loook at that gooey layer! I’m in love!

    Reply
  9. Jennifer @ Not Your Momma's Cookie says

    October 15, 2013 at 7:13 am

    That caramel filling looks crazy decadent! Love it!

    Reply
  10. RavieNomNoms says

    October 15, 2013 at 7:34 am

    Why must your torture me when I am trying to eat so healthy! GAH these looks good!

    Reply
  11. Audra | The Baker Chick says

    October 15, 2013 at 9:12 am

    Oh man these are pretty much my dream dessert. I am so nuts for anything pumpkin and the gooey caramel puts them over the top. Love this!

    Reply
  12. Erin @ Texanerin Baking says

    October 15, 2013 at 9:35 am

    I haven’t heard of that movie so I’ll go check it out! And your husband’s company sounds nice with the entertainment perks. 🙂

    These look so so so good. And on top that, your best pictures ever! 😀

    Reply
  13. Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie says

    October 15, 2013 at 11:17 am

    Mmm love that oozy caramel!

    Reply
  14. Shawn @ IWYD says

    October 15, 2013 at 1:54 pm

    Holy smokes! These bars look killer!!

    Reply
  15. Gloria // Simply Gloria says

    October 15, 2013 at 2:13 pm

    What a fun date! Haven’t seen that one yet. But my oldest saw it in 3D and he said it’s amazing.
    My most favorite Fall ingredients are right here in front of my eye balls!! Caramel and pumpkin. I’m in total bliss right now. Already pinned!

    Reply
  16. Meghan says

    October 15, 2013 at 3:34 pm

    Drool! These look like pure heaven, Erin!! I just cracked open the pumpkin too! Can’t wait to see more recipes 🙂

    Reply
  17. Carla says

    October 15, 2013 at 5:16 pm

    Oh I can’t wait to try these, mainly because of the oozing caramel!

    Reply
  18. Monet says

    October 15, 2013 at 9:05 pm

    No popcorn?!?! What a tragedy! What did you think of the movie? I’ve heard good things! And these bars? Well they look delicious! Thank you for sharing them!

    Reply
  19. Lisa {AuthenticSuburbanGourmet} says

    October 16, 2013 at 8:09 pm

    That is gooey goodness on a plate! Delish!

    Reply
  20. Sarah @ Miss Candiquik says

    October 18, 2013 at 9:42 am

    These look amazing, I’m suddenly SO hungry. Pinning 🙂

    Reply
  21. Jessi says

    October 20, 2013 at 9:29 pm

    I made these, and they were NOT good. The caramel all sunk to the bottom of the pan and the pumpkin cake part was dry. 🙁 And yes, I followed the recipe perfectly.

    Reply
    • Erin S says

      October 21, 2013 at 10:12 am

      I am sorry these didn’t work out for you. I have made them 3 times, and not had these problems. I would like to work through them with you to see if we can figure out why they didn’t turn out.

      Reply
  22. Shari @ Shari Blogs says

    October 25, 2013 at 8:42 am

    Cinnamon, caramel and pumpkin all together equals DELICIOUS!! I shared it in my Pumpkin Round Up on my blog today! 🙂 http://shariblogs.com/35-pumpkin-dessert-recipes/

    Reply
  23. Nathan says

    October 25, 2013 at 9:23 am

    This recipe looked awesome and I need to make it for a gathering this weekend. In order to make sure it turns out right I made a batch last night. I followed the recipe as it was listed except my caramel bag was 11oz so I cut the evaporated milk back to 1/2 of a cup. I cooked the bottom layer for 5 minutes at 350, took everything out spread the chips and caramel like the recipe says to. I let the recipe cool and cut it the next morning. The caramel spread a little throughout the mix, it wasn’t the thick layer your image shows. The top and bottom turned out more like a cake then a cookie. I didn’t sift my flour but when I scoop flour I do it by the spoon full and shake it into the measuring cup to separate it, that way I get a true 1 3/4 cup and not more. Any help would be great. I assume to reduce the flour a bit and maybe increase the caramel. I just want advice of how to make them turn out more like cookies instead of cake.

    Thanks for any help.

    Reply
    • Erin S says

      October 25, 2013 at 9:31 am

      Mine are more like cake than cookie. They are soft and chewy. So I think you did everything right. My bag of caramels was 14 oz, and they were warm when I pictured them, so the caramel looks gooey. You could definitely use more caramels to get an even thicker layer.

      Reply
      • Nathan says

        October 25, 2013 at 11:17 am

        My total bar size seems taller then what your image looks like. If I had to guess the total height of my bar is 1 1/2 inches tall, it just doesn’t have the same consistancy as what your picture shows. A lot more air pockets like a cake would have, while your image looks more cookie like. Still tastes great just wasn’t sure it came out right.

        Thanks for the help!

        Reply
        • Erin S says

          October 25, 2013 at 2:25 pm

          I wonder if the height has to do with where i live. I live in CO, and things tend to flatten out here, given the altitude. My only other guess is that maybe it was how much you mixed ingredients if you used a mixer. If you incorporated a lot of air in there, maybe that has something to do with it.

          Reply
          • Nathan says

            October 28, 2013 at 5:17 pm

            Hello Erin,

            I’ve made these two more times now and they turned out much better. Some key things to point out from my own experiences. All of the caramel bags they have in the stores around me are 11 oz. so I bought two bags and averaged that 50 pieces is close to 11 oz. I cut the evaporated milk down to 1/2 a cup or even slightly less. My first batch had the same issue as another post that the caramel mixed into the batter because my caramel sauce had too much liquid. I also cut the flower down to 1 1/2 cups just to reduce the cake like results from my first try. I made sure not to over mix, when I added the dry ingredients to the wet I mixed on the lowest speed for less than a minute, until there was no more noticeable flour. After doing these things my results were much closer to your images and still tasted great. Thanks for the help.

            Can’t wait for your pumpkin cookie post!

    • Erin S says

      October 25, 2013 at 11:06 am

      I was thinking about this more. I do have a recipe for Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies that I am posting next week. If you wanted to do a true bar cookie, you could use that as the base, and add a layer of caramel. The recipe is going up on Wednesday, so check back then if you are interested!

      Reply
  24. Emanuelle says

    October 19, 2014 at 8:26 am

    Oh wow!! These look so crazy I can’t wait to try it!

    Reply
  25. Kimberly says

    September 25, 2018 at 10:15 am

    Oh, so deliciously gooey, these are screaming my name!

    Reply
  26. Allison says

    September 25, 2018 at 10:33 am


    I love the combo of pumpkin and caramel! These look amazing!

    Reply
  27. Dorothy at Shockinglydelish says

    September 25, 2018 at 6:40 pm

    I just love pumpkin desserts! The caramel is an excellent addition!

    Reply
  28. Melanie Bauer says

    September 25, 2018 at 11:23 pm


    Oh wow looks heavenly! I’m drooling over this, definitely having this one!

    Reply
  29. Jamielyn says

    September 26, 2018 at 8:20 am


    OH MY that layer of caramel looks divine! So yummy!

    Reply
  30. Anna says

    September 26, 2018 at 4:21 pm


    Swooning over the gooey caramel layer! So crazy good!!

    Reply
  31. Tanya Harris says

    September 26, 2018 at 5:22 pm


    The addition of caramel has me drooling! Can’t wait to make these.

    Reply
  32. Des says

    September 26, 2018 at 5:25 pm


    Pumpkin and caramel go together like peas and carrots 😉 You are a genius for combining the two into one delicious dessert.

    Reply
  33. Alli says

    September 26, 2018 at 6:18 pm


    These look absolutely to die for! Caramel and pumpkin are a pair made in heaven!

    Reply
  34. Megan Ancheta says

    September 26, 2018 at 9:26 pm

    These look so incredibly decadent and delicious! That caramel layer is everything!

    Reply
  35. Connie says

    September 26, 2018 at 11:41 pm

    OMG that caramel! Making these bars look so ooey gooey. Mmm!

    Reply
  36. Bree says

    September 27, 2018 at 12:18 am


    This looks so super gooey and delicious! I’m going to make these for my kids this weekend!

    Reply
  37. Sabrina says

    September 27, 2018 at 7:58 am


    I love that you added caramel to these! So ooey gooey!!

    Reply
  38. Cheryl Sousan says

    September 27, 2018 at 9:46 am

    What a fabulous fall treat! that caramel won my heart!!!

    Reply
  39. Kristyn says

    September 28, 2018 at 7:52 am


    You won me over with Pumpkin + Caramel. Such a great combo – thank yoU!

    Reply

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