These Caramel Crunch Bars, with layer upon layer of delicious sweet, salty, caramel goodness, are one of my favorite easy no-bake desserts!
No Bake Treats are everything during these hot summer months–am I right?! I could eat these scotcheroos, or this almond coconut chex mix, or these pretzel peanut clusters all summer looooong. Don’t make me pick a favorite.
If you were to make a mash-up of my graham cracker toffee bars, and my scotcheroos, you would get these Caramel Crunch Bars. They start with a layer of plain ol’ Club crackers, lining the bottom of a 9×13” pan.
Then you make a hot caramel filling and pour half of it over the crackers. Repeat with another layer of crackers, and the rest of the caramel filling.
Top it all with a melted mixture of chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and peanut butter. Refrigerate the bars to let everything set.
Just look at those layers of crunch, caramel and chocolate. Amazing!
I like to place a piece of parchment paper or tinfoil in the pan before making these. That way you can pull the bars completely out of the pan after they’ve been refrigerated, and they are way easier to cut. It also makes for really easy clean-up.
This recipe is adapted from an old Paula Deen recipe for homemade Kit Kat bars. While I agree that the texture is totally similar to a kit kat bar, the flavor is not. They definitely have a caramel taste to them.
I also love that the chocolate topping is a combination of peanut butter, chocolate chips and butterscotch chips, just like in my beloved Scotcheroos recipe.
Consider trying some of my other favorite dessert bars:
- Butterfinger Cookie Bars
- M&M Cookie Bars
- Perfect Lemon Bars
- Oreo Cookie Bars
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bars
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Recipe
Caramel Crunch Bars
Ingredients
- 70-80 club crackers (about 2 full sleeves)
- 1 cup butter
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 1 ½ full sleeves), crushed
- 1 cup light brown sugar , packed
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup butterscotch chips
Instructions
- Line an un-greased 9x13 inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on either end.
- Line the parchment paper with one layer of club crackers, cutting them to fit if necessary.
- In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.
- Add graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, granulated sugar and milk. Stir well and bring mixture to a boil — boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. (Begin timing 5 minutes from when you see the first bubbles.)
- Remove from heat and spread half of the mixture over crackers and gently smooth it into an even layer.
- Place another single layer of crackers over the top, cutting to fit if necessary. Spread remaining mixture evenly over crackers.
- Top with one more layer of crackers. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan, combine peanut butter, chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips.
- Melt over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth. Spread evenly over top of crackers.
- Chill for at least 1 hour. Remove from fridge and allow chocolate to rest for a minute or so before cutting. This will help avoid breaks in chocolate as it's being cut.
- Pull up on the parchment paper to remove them from the pan. Cut into bars. Store in the refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
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This is amazing! Easy and delicious! I had some mixed ice cream topper I sprinkled on the top!
Lauren, thanks for the fantastic recipe! I make cookies for the coffee shop at church every other month, and bar cookies are such an easy way to accomplish the task. I’ll be using several of your recipes. (Butterfinger Bars are next!)
can I freeze these?
What does the graham cracker crumbs do for the caramel sauce? Is it absolutely needed?
These r sooo good!
I highly recommend !!👍🏻
SO YUMMY. I will be making these for the holidays every year!
I have a daughter that’s allergic to peanuts & treenuts. Can I just leave out the peanut butter or would I need to sub it out with something?
I would just substitute a couple Tablespoons of butter for the peanut butter, to help melt the chips.
You can try sunbutter ( made from sunflower seeds) or cookie butter… There are several types available
Can i use almond instead of regular milk?
Hi Brandee, I haven’t tried this with almond milk but I think it should work! Let me know if you try it 🙂