Better than anything bars are going to be one of your new favorite bars to make. Packed with caramel and chocolate, who isn’t going to love these!?! I always think of caramel when it comes to the Fall Season, but you can make these any time of the year.
I have a very similar recipe on the blog that is called Snicker Brownies, but it doesn’t have the peanut butter. I’m not sure about your family, but peanut butter is a must in our home.
My husband really enjoys them because Snickers is his favorite candy bar. You can leave the peanut butter out of these if you like, and then they are like caramel blondies. The snicker brownies are more chocolate based.
What Ingredients Do I Need For Better Than Anything Bars?
Here’s a list of ingredients you’ll need to make these bars (scroll down for the full recipe):
Bars:
- Butter
- Brown sugar
- White sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips
Caramel Sauce:
- Caramels
- Evaporated milk
- Peanut butter
How Do I Make Better Than Anything Bars?
Here’s the simple steps you’ll follow to make these bars (scroll down for the full recipe):
Bars:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Prepare a 9″x13″ baking pan.
- In a mixing bowl, add the butter, and the sugars.
- Add the eggs one at a time, and then the vanilla extract.
- Next add the flour, soda, and salt, mix just until mixture is combined.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Place half of the cookie dough into the bottom of the baking pan and bake for 8-10 minutes.
Caramel Sauce:
- While the dough is baking, place the caramels and evaporated milk in to a micro wave safe bowl.
- Cook on power level 5 for 1-2 minutes, stirring at 30 second intervals.
- Add more time on power level 5 if the caramels are not combined with the milk.
- When they are combined, add the peanut butter, and stir thoroughly.
- Spread the mixture over the dough that is baked.
- Then drop the remaining dough, by 1/2 teaspoons full on top of the caramel mixture.
- Bake this mixture for 17-20 minutes, or until the remaining dough is golden brown or the dough is baked through.
This is a picture after I cooked the bottom for 10 minutes.
Tips and Tricks For Better Than Anything Bars:
- Add nuts or peanuts. Better than anything bars are one of my husbands favorites, and if I added nuts, (peanuts that is) I think they would be perfect, almost like a Snickers brownie.
- Also, I said that this recipe would serve 20 people, but these are rich enough that you could get away with serving more people. Just cut them smaller, because a little goes a long way.
More Delicious Caramel Recipes:
Baked Caramel Apple French Toast
Easy Caramel Pecan Chocolate Turtles
Better Than Anything Bars
Better than anything bars are just in time for fall. Make them for those after school snacks, date nights, or even during a game.
Ingredients
Bars:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 medium eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips
Caramel Sauce:
- 1 (14 ounce) bag caramels, unwrapped
- 5 ounces, canned, evaporated milk (Do not use the whole can)
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
Instructions
Bars:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Prepare a 9"x13" baking pan.
- In a mixing bowl, add the butter, and the sugars.
- Then add the eggs one at a time, and then the vanilla extract.
- Next add the flour, soda, and salt, mix just until mixture is combined.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Place half of the cookie dough into the bottom of the baking pan and bake for 8-10 minutes.
Caramel Sauce:
- While the dough is baking, place the caramels and evaporated milk in to a micro wave safe bowl.
- Cook on power level 5 for 1-2 minutes, stirring at 30 second intervals.
- Add more time on power level 5 if the caramels are not combined with the milk.
- When they are combined, add the peanut butter, and stir thoroughly.
- Spread the mixture over the dough that is baked.
- Then drop the remaining dough, by teaspoons full, on top of the caramel mixture.
- Bake this mixture for 17-20 minutes, or until the remaining dough is golden brown or the dough is baked through.
Nutrition Information
Yield
20Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 266Total Fat 15gSaturated Fat 8gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 45mgSodium 303mgCarbohydrates 30gFiber 1gSugar 18gProtein 5g
They look ooey, gooey and oh so good!
Thank you. They are fabulous!
I have made these several times and they are absolutely amazing!
Wonderful Carlee, I am so glad you enjoyed them. Happy Fall to you and your family! 🙂
Can you omit the peanut butter?
I haven’t tried it without peanut butter, but I don’t see why not. The caramel will still set up and go a little thicker. Please let us know if you try it without. Thanks for the great question. I will have to try making them without!
Made these ….absolutely gooey and delicious.
Thank you so much! So glad you enjoyed them.;)
Just a reminder…theses contains peanut butter so be sensitive to nut allergies even if you don’t add nuts
Thank you for the reminder.
Any suggestion or a substitute for PB.
You could use any nut butter like Almond butter, Cashew butter, Hazelnut butter, Pecan butter, etc. I hope that that helps.
These were a huge hit I made them yesterday for memorial day get together and everyone loved them I even got requested to make them again
We are so glad that your group enjoyed these bars – they really are good. Thank you for leaving a comment.
Can you omit the peanut butter? I’m not a big fan of pb.
I bet you could, the peanut butter makes the recipe a little creamier. Give it a try and let us know how it works out! Best of luck.:)
Can you use a jar of caramel sauce rather than the individual wrapped caramels?
I would think so, it will thin out when you warm it just a bit and I bet it would be perfect. Thanks for the tip. Also that makes it so you do not have to unwrap all those caramels. 😉 Thanks for the great tip!!
I used caramel sauce and omitted the milk. They turned out awesome!
Thank you for sharing your tip. So glad that they turned out awesome!
Fixing to make these for a picnic and going to use this recipe – https://pin.it/5rUIuW3 for my caramel sauce. It’s my go to for caramel;)
Your recipe for caramel sauce looks and sounds fabulous. We hope that you enjoy the bars. A picnic sounds great! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
I don’t know if I have very high hopes for my bars.. they took much longer to bake in my oven. I won’t fault the recipe because it’s more likely my oven. But they were JIGGLY. Baked an extra 10 minutes.. they’re cooling now, fingers crossed they turn out right! I’m in no way an expert baker so any tips on what I could have done wrong?
They do not set up until they cool off, so I hope that your bars turned out perfectly. I had someone think about trying caramel sauce, however, that doesn’t set up, even on ice cream it is still runny. I use Kraft caramels, not sure if you use that kind? And to be honest, they are an ooey gooey bar. Thank you for trying them and have a wonderful week!;)
The same thing happened to me. The top just didn’t cook. And I am an excellent baker, so I don’t know what happened. I think they are now overcooked, but couldn’t be helped.
Make sure that the amount of dough you put on the caramel mixture is not to thick. Not sure why they didn’t cook? Also I tend to use quality butter and flour when I bake, so I’m not sure if it could be because of that either. So sorry about that. Also sometimes the edges do get a little extra done, but it works for us because my husband like the crunchier edges. I hope this helps.
Made these and they turned out perfect and they went to the downtown homeless shelter. I hated unwrapping the caramels, best do that before starting anything because it is time consuming. Can you freeze these goodies once baked?
Thanks.
Yes, you can. When you are ready to serve them, thaw @ room temperature. In order to freeze, cool the bars completely, but do not cut into individual servings. Wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and then again in aluminum foil. Freeze up to 3 months. I’m guessing that those folks at the homeless shelter were pretty excited. Thank you for the great question and enjoy your day!
Going to have to make these for the next time we have company.
That is a great idea! Thank you for leaving a comment.
After you add the top layer of 1/2 tsp do you spread it out to cover the pan?
As you drop the teaspoons of dough, cover the whole pan, and yes spread it gently to cover the pan. Thank you for asking. (I changed the recipe to say drop by teaspoons, not by 1/2 teaspoons).
The first time I made these, several months ago, I thought the caramel sauce was pretty thin and then saw that my bag of caramels was 11oz not 14. I had another bag so I added more and they were amazing. I just made them again and totally forgot to adjust the milk and this time didn’t have extra caramels,. I added in some butterscotch chips to help thicken and am hoping for the best! Darn manufacturers changing their sizes! Great recipe though!
Thank you for bringing that to our attention. We didn’t think about the bag size changing. But since the manufacturers seem to be decreasing the size of many food items that is a good point. We are glad that you caught that and we will try to make sure to remember to include the size of the ingredient package (can, bag, etc.). Thank you for coming by and for leaving a comment.
Can I use soft caramels.
Yes, you can use soft caramels? Thank you for asking.
Can I use soft caramels?
Yes, you can use soft caramels? Thank you for asking.
Couldn’t find the caramels so I used Kraft caramel bits, only 11 oz in bag so I added 3oz caramel sauce. Too thin so I’m not going to use sauce. Ill add p’nut butter chips to dough and drizzle with caramel sauce when done
I love it when people are able to compromise and figure out what will work in the middle of a recipe. I’m impressed and hope that your Bars turned out fabulous. Thank you for sharing your idea.
Can these be frozen after baking?
Yes, you can. When you are ready to serve them, thaw @ room temperature. In order to freeze, cool the bars completely, but do not cut into individual servings. Wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and then again in aluminum foil. Freeze up to 3 months. Thank you for the great question and enjoy your day!
It says “prepare the pan”, but I didn’t see anything else. Do we butter or spray it? Add flour? Thank you!
I spray it with cooking spray or grease it with a small amount of butter. You won’t need to butter and flour. Thanks for the great question. Enjoy your week!!
You mention that adding additional nuts would make these bars not suitable for someone with a nut allergy or sensitivity, but the recipe already includes peanut butter.
Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I really appreciate that. I went ahead and removed the bullet point about the food allergies because you are right the caramel sauce has peanut butter in it.
Actually, you were correct to include the warning about nut allergies. You only needed to change the wording to the effect that the bars would not be suitable for those with peanut allergies with both the peanut butter and chopped nuts. Both can be omitted for a nut-free bar.
Good to know I wasn’t sure how thick they would be with out adding some kind of nut butter. Thank you!:)
They are so good,But You Must Save So to put in the freezer. They get much better.the caramel gets so good.
Really great to know!!! Thank you for letting me know 🙂
They are so good,But You Must Save So to put in the freezer. They get much better.the caramel gets so good.
I will give it a try!! 🙂
Are they very peanut buttery tasting? Looks so good. Just not super sure I’d like the peanut butter but going to give it a try!!!thank you!!!
I am big on peanut butter so they are a little strong on peanut butter. I do like to substitute almond butter.
I am big on peanut butter so they are pretty peanut buttery. I also like to substitute almond butter if you like that better or any kind of nut butter. I hope they work out good for you! Or maybe try using 1/2 the peanut butter.
Couple people mentioned Carmel later being too runny. I noticed the amount of evaporated milk is only 5 oz. The standard can is 12 oz. I was about to make the mistake of using the whole can myself. Do you really only use 5 oz in your recipe?
That is correct, you don’t use the whole can. Thank you for checking on that.