These Oreo and Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are an obvious attempt to make chocolate chip cookies even more decadent and delicious. Mission accomplished!
When I think of stuffing chocolate chip cookies with Oreos, I always think of my friend Jenny of the Picky Palate blog. Her most famous recipe is one in which she stuffs a homemade chocolate chip cookie dough with an Oreo and bakes it up into a delicious new cookie (yep, Jenny is the originator of that idea).
We’ve baked Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies at our house numerous times for many occasions. They are always a huge hit. Fun fact: I brought them to a school auction once and I sold two dozen of them for $50. They’re that good!
For this recipe, I figured I’d stick with Jenny’s chocolate-chip + Oreo theme, since it works so darn well. And since I am completely obsessed with caramel, I had to throw that in too.
How to Make Oreo and Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars:
So let’s make this treat! Pat 1/2 batch of the cookie dough into the bottom of a 9×13-inch pan. I spray my hands with nonstick spray and then go at it. Your hands won’t tend to stick to the dough if they’re a little greasy.
Place a layer of Double Stuff Oreos on top of the cookie dough. I guess you could use regular Oreos if you want. Double Stuff just makes double the creme!
Drizzle caramel on top (jarred caramel is fine).
Spoon little globs of the remaining cookie dough on top. No need to pack it down.
Bake it, and then sprinkle on a few more chocolate chips while it’s still warm. Then… let it COOL before cutting!
This is what happens if you absolutely MUST dig into Oreo and Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars before they have cooled. It’s an incredible gooey, messy dessert that you will not be able to stop eating (especially if you have the desire to drizzle more caramel on top). It’s just not very pretty.
But if you are patient and have the willpower to give these bars a proper amount of time for cooling, the sliced pieces will look more like this… nice and neat and easily hand-held for munching.
If you are looking for more desserts that use Oreos, you might like to try my No Bake Oreo Cheesecake Bars or these Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Oreos. Oreo Brownies and Creamy Oreo Poke Cake are delicious choices too!
Oreo and Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Ingredients
COOKIES:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup oats
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
- + a few more chocolate chips, for sprinkling on top
FILLING:
- 24 Double Stuff Oreos
- 1 cup caramel sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13-inch pan with nonstick spray.
PREPARE THE COOKIE DOUGH:
- Place the butter and sugars in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Beat well. Whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Add to the butter mixture. Beat until everything is well incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Stir in the chocolate chips.
ASSEMBLE THE BARS:
- Using half of the batch of cookie dough, place dollops into the prepared pan and press with greased hands to press and make an even layer in the bottom of the pan. (I spray my hands with nonstick spray for this part). Set the Oreos on top of the dough- four rows of 6. Drizzle caramel on top- about 1 cup- over and around the Oreos. Spoon small dollops of the remaining cookie dough on top. Don't worry if the dollops don't completely cover the Oreos/caramel. Just drop small bit of the cookie dough all over the tops of the cookies. The cookie dough will spread out as you bake it.
- Bake until lightly browned, 20 to 25 minutes. Sprinkle a few more chocolate chips onto the baked cookies, then set aside to cool completely, then cut into 32 bars.
Notes
- *These are easiest to cut when they have chilled for a while. You'll be able to get nice, clean cuts when they're firmer, then they'll soften up a bit when they're at room temperature again.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
A must try. These look wonderful.
Will using store-bought dough work just as well?
I don’t use store-bought dough, so I’m afraid I cannot recommend.
I used a 30oz roll of Nestle’s Toll House Cookies. I brought the roll to room temperature and cut it in half. I baked it a little longer (maybe 3-5 minutes). I thought maybe the oats were needed to soak up the caramel sauce but I think the Oreos soaked up the sauce perfect! It turned out great! YUM!
I bake for a lot of chocolate-peanut butter lovers, so I modified this slightly:
-Peanut butter Oreos instead of regular ones
-A mix of chocolate and peanut butter chips instead of just chocolate chips
-Hot fudge sauce and creamy peanut butter (melted slightly) in place of the caramel sauce
Does it affect the taste a lot if i dont add the oats?
It won’t affect the taste, but it will definitely affect the recipe. The oats are needed for it to turn out as you see here!
I made this recipe last night to take with us to a New Year’s Eve party and I was a little surprised because the amount of dough that the recipe yielded was nowhere near enough for a 13×9 pan. I had to use a much smaller pan and ended up with only 24 cookies. How thin is the layer at the bottom? Maybe my mistake was using too much on the bottom, but I used half the dough like the recipe said.
Either way, these cookies are LETHAL! I posted pics up on Facebook and everyone is chomping at the bits for the recipe. I think I’ll keep this gem to myself though 🙂
Thanks,
Maya
The layer is rather thin on the bottom…
These look awesome!!
This is wonderful. Made it for work and it was gone before lunch, everyone wanted the recipe. I will make it many more times. Thanks!!!
Made it, loved it, great hit
I don’t have any caramel right now…Can I make it without it?
sure.
These cookies were delicious. They were an excellent treat. Thanks for sharing the recipe.