Friday, May 9, 2014

Steph's Gluten Free Carmelita's

      

        
       Prepare yourselves! These cookie bars are going to change your life. I have not met anyone who didn't like them, and truly if you don't like them don't tell me because then I'd have to judge you. I stumbled across this recipe on Pintrest (of course) and have made them for various functions and parties. The best thing about them is the fact that they are so easy and it was one of the first recipes I tried to manipulate to make gluten free. 
   
      My husband has a gluten intolerance. He has always suffered from various stomach problems, some of which got pretty severe. He had lots of tests done and tried different diet variations trying to solve his problem but nothing was conclusive or particularly successful. About a year ago he stopped eating gluten. He went cold turkey, no gluten at all. It was a big adjustment for our family, especially for me the cook. He felt better almost immediately and it was fabulous, but after a few weeks he started feeling isolated in his eating. Because he doesn't have Celiac disease we didn't have to ban gluten from our house and there was no concern about cross contamination. So when we would eat yummy gluten-ful food he was bummed out. 

   The Carmelita's are one of his favorite treats and so as a surprise I tried to change it so he could eat them and just enjoy. The recipe calls for 1 cup flour and 1 cup oats. Now because he is only gluten intolerant I didn't use gluten free oats I just substituted Pamela's Pancake Mix for the flour. It worked perfectly! He was so excited and I accepted my Wife of the Year Award with aplomb. The recipe originally came from http://luluthebaker.com/ and I will love the inventor of that recipe for the rest of my life.Try the Carmelitas. You will absolutely love them. Make them for others. People will praise you. You can find the recipe on my Sweet Tooth pintrest board as well!

32 caramel squares, unwrapped
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup flour or Pamela's Pancake mix for Gluten Free
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
Combine caramels and cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until completely smooth; set aside. In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, flour, oats, and baking soda. Pat half of the oatmeal mixture into the bottom of an 8×8″ pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over crust. Pour caramel mixture over chocolate chips. Crumble remaining oatmeal mixture over caramel. Return to oven and bake an additional 15-20 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.
*A stint in the fridge will help them cool off if you’re pinched for time. They shouldn’t be served cold, but all of that molten caramel takes a long time to cool down. They should be stored and served at room temperature.
**If you want to use homemade or store-bought caramel sauce in place of the caramel/cream mixture, use 1 1/4 cups of caramel sauce, and omit the caramel squares and heavy cream.
***To make a 9×13″ version, simply double the amounts.
     

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