Alice in the Kitchen

Oatmeal Caramel Bars

I had a Junior League get together this week and I wanted to make something a little different for dessert.  I had made the Pillsbury recipe for Oatmeal Carmelitas in law school, and this is very similar, except you melt the caramels at home instead of using store bought caramel sauce.  This is pretty easy and could be modified to suit your taste with the addition of nuts or coconut.

Even just as this basic version, they were pretty yummy, and I got a request to add them to the blog, so here you go!

You will need:

a bag of ~40 individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped

6 tablespoons heavy cream

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups quick oats

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 sticks of butter, melted

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used mini chips)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt together the caramels and heavy cream, stirring occasionally until smooth.

3. Stir together the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and salt.   Stir in the melted butter until well blended.  Press half of the mixture into the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking pan.  Reserve the rest.

4. Bake the crust for 8 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove and sprinkle with chocolate chips.

5. Pour the caramel mixture over the top, and swirl the chocolate in with a spoon.

6. Crumble the remaining crust mixture over top of the caramel and chocolate.

7. Return to the oven and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until the top is lightly toasted.

8. Cut into squares while it is still warm.

Can chicken put a ring on it?

Last month, Glamour Magazine released their new cookbook, “100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know: Engagement Chicken and 99 Other Fabulous Dishes to Get You Everything You Want in Life.”  Chicken so good that it turns boyfriends into fiancés.  What decade is this?!?

Horrifying, right?  I was so horrified that I had to try it out for myself, right away.  And evidently, this is something that a lot  of people know about – check out these google search results.  Women everywhere – I am so disappointed in us.

This recipe was pretty good.  It’s certainly better than Dying Alone Porkchops.  I don’t even really liked cooked onions, and these onions were seriously one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten.  Now you can try this too!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 5 pound roasting chicken
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 lemons
• 1 whole head garlic, peeled
• Good olive oil
• 2 Spanish onions, peeled and thickly sliced (just big old white onions!)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Remove and discard the chicken giblets. Pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken.  Cut the lemons in eighths, place one lemon  in the chicken along with the garlic and reserve the rest of the lemon slices.  Brush the outside of the chicken with olive oil and sprinkle the chicken liberally with salt and pepper.

Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken.

Place the chicken in a small roasting pan.  (If the pan is too large, the onions will burn.)  Place the reserved lemons and the sliced onions in a large bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.  Pour the mixture around the chicken in the pan.

Roast the chicken for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and a thigh.

Add the drippings to a saucepan and turn the heat to medium-high.  Add the wine and stir with a wooden spoon to scrape up the brown bits.  Add the stock and sprinkle on the flour, stirring constantly for a minute, until the sauce thickens. Add any juices that collect under the chicken.  (this is called the “marry me” juice)

Carve the chicken onto a platter and serve with the lemons, onions, and warm sauce.

Do you think we enjoyed it??

(Result?  Matt said it was good, but not the best thing I’ve ever made. )