This week’s Frugal Homemade features Gooey Bars: Another version of the Whatever-ya-have Cookies recipe from a few months ago, but this time in bar form. With toasted coconut. And caramel. How can you go wrong with chocolate, caramel, and toasted coconut?
So, in the spirit of Cars Being in the Shop & the Stockpile Running Low (bad couponer!), I whipped up a batch of these delicious, ooey, gooey bars with a few simple ingredients I had in the house — and which you also probably have on hand.
Try to save at least a few for your family. 😉
Gooey Bars
Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 cups flour
2 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup pecans (optional)
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup caramel sauce (Recipe from Yammie’s Noshery here — I had some left over from the amazing cheesecake recipe found in the same link.)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9×13 baking dish by spraying it with cooking spray and lining it with parchment paper. (Let the paper hang over the short sides so you can easily lift the bars out of the dish.)
Cream butter and brown sugar. Add salt, baking soda, and flour. Stir in oats, chocolate chips, and pecans. Mix well & pour into prepared baking dish. Smooth with a spatula so it spreads into the whole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes, until the bars are almost cooked through.
Top with coconut and bake for an additional 3-4 minutes until the coconut is toasted and the bars are cooked through. Drizzle with caramel sauce and let cool. Remove from baking dish by pulling up the parchment paper. Cut into squares and enjoy!
Easy print version
Gooey Bars -- Frugal Homemade
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 2 cups old fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup pecans optional
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/4 cup caramel sauce Recipe from Yammie's Noshery. I had some leftover from the amazing cheesecake recipe found in the same link.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare a 9x13 baking dish by spraying it with cooking spray and lining it with parchment paper.(Let the paper hang over the short sides so you can easily lift the bars out of the dish.)
- Cream butter and brown sugar.
- Add salt, baking soda, and flour.
- Stir in oats, chocolate chips, and pecan.
- Mix well & pour into prepared baking dish.
- Smooth with a spatula so it spreads into the whole dish.
- Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes, until the bars are almost cooked through.
- Top with coconut and bake for an additional 3-4 minutes until the coconut is toasted and the bars are cooked through.
- Drizzle with caramel sauce and let cool.
- Remove from baking dish by pulling up the parchment paper.
- Cut into squares and enjoy!