Oooh-y, Goo-ey!

We were supposed to have another bake sale for the CAFP today, to help reimburse the group of members who got to go to the annual lah-di-dah gala on February 2. However, a mass of bad planning by the "fundraising coordinators" (apparently they're my "superiors... ahem) led to it being cancelled, but not before I had baked off my contribution! I was inspired from this post on Serious Eats, but I had to pay homage to the good old Canadian butter tart flavours by throwing in a layer of raisins under the caramel goo, and topping them with plain oats instead of leftover cookie dough. At any rate, these are gooey, very chewy and over the top delicious. I didn't let them go to waste, either... mom took them in to feed to masses!

The parchment is really a good idea with this recipe, I guess greased foil would work but you need to take the bars out of the pan to cut them.

Caramel-Raisin Cookie Bars

Makes 20

1/4 cup salted butter
1/2 cup milk (I used 1%), divided
1 tsp vanilla
350g sugar cookie mix (I weighed mine because I buy in bulk, it's 100g less than 1 package of Betty Crocker)
2 tsp cornstarch
35 vanilla caramel candies, unwrapped
1/4 cup dark raisins
2 tbsp rolled oats

1. Preheat oven to 375F and line a 9" square pan with parchment paper.
2. Cream butter until fluffy. Add 1/4 cup milk and vanilla, beating smooth.
3. Mix together the cookie mix and cornstarch.
4. Stir in the cookie mix gently until incorporated. Dough will be very soft (more than you're used to with the mixes).
5. Spread / press the dough evenly into the bottom of the pan.
6. Bake 15 minutes and set aside.
7. Reduce oven to 350F.
8. In a saucepan, heat remaining milk.
9. Add caramels and cook until caramels are melted and smooth.
10. Sprinkle raisins over the baked cookie base.
11. Pour the caramel evenly over the raisins.
12. Sprinkle with rolled oats.
13. Place back into the oven and bake 15 minutes longer.
14. Cool completely before serving.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 182.4
Total Fat: 5.5 g
Cholesterol: 7.6 mg
Sodium: 108.7 mg
Total Carbs: 31.4 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.3 g
Protein: 1.8 g