Apple Oatmeal Bars with Cinnamon Caramel Sauce

For the apple oatmeal bars:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 9×13-inch pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and whisk again.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Add dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir together. Fold in the apples and then pour batter into prepared pan, pushing the batter into the corners and spreading evenly.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove it from the oven to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the cinnamon caramel sauce and caramel apple dip:
In a medium pan over medium heat, combine caramels, sweetened condensed milk, butter, and salt. Stir occasionally until completely melted. Remove it from the heat and stir in cinnamon and vanilla. Let the mixture cool.

This yields about 3 cups of caramel. Reserve about 1 cup of caramel for the apple oatmeal bars. Serve the remaining caramel with apples for dipping, warmed or at room temperature.

To assemble the apple oatmeal bars with cinnamon caramel sauce:
To get the look of the bars in my photos, first cut the bars and place individual portions on plates. Drizzle with caramel. It works best if the caramel is just barely warm.

Otherwise, simply drizzle caramel over cooled bars. Let the caramel set and then cut the bars.