Oatmeal Carmelitas (with vegan butter!)

This past weekend I had a couchsurfer from Argentina staying at my place. It was her first time in NY which means that I got to do some toruisty stuff WITH a tourist. (Because, OBVIOUSLY, doing touristy stuff as a New Yorker is not cool.)

For instance, I went ice skating in Central Park for the first time.

And fell on my bum on the ice skating rink in Central Park for the first time. (Sorry, no pictures of that...just a bunch of soreness the day after.)

As for Marina from Argentina (yes, the fact that that rhymes makes me happy), she watched the Superbowl for the first time. She enjoyed taking part of the "stuffing yourself silly" American tradition and the commercials. I brought these Oatmeal Carmelitas to the party we went to. I have to say that using Earth Balance butter substitute made these the perfect end to the party because they weren't heavy (unlike the artichoke dip, mac & cheese, chips & salsa, sub sandwich etc that I ate beforehand.)

*Interesting side note: I happened to have the Earth Balance butter because of the LAST couchsurfer I had. She was vegan and made these brownies and left the rest of the "butter" for me to bake with. It's funny that I finally used it while I had a different couchsurfer around.

Oatmeal Carmelitas (from My Recession Kitchen)

Makes 24 squares - Use organic ingredients whenever possible.

2 cups unbleached white flour (Erika's Extra: I had to use bleached flour. Still worked.)
2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 sticks Earth Balance butter substitute, cut into tablespoons sized pieces
1 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 cup caramel sauce
3 tablespoons unbleached white flour

Preheat your oven to 350°.
Grease a 13” x 9” pan.
In a large bowl combine the flour, oats, sugar, and baking soda. Stir.
Add the Earth Balance and mix (with a hand or stand mixer) until the butter is well incorporated.
Remove 3 cups of this mixture to another bowl and put the rest in the greased pan and press evenly to fill the bottom of the pan.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Sprinkle the chocolate chips and pecans over the baked crust.
Mix the 3 tablespoons of flour into the caramel sauce.
Drizzle the caramel sauce over the nuts and chocolate chips.
Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture evenly over the top of everything.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Allow to cool for at least an hour before you cut them into 2” squares.

Bake well and prosper!