Recipe | Oat and pecan squares with caramel and chocolate (tray bake)

Posted in Baking by

Another great tray bake. Oats, pecans, chocolate and caramel. I like to think the oats mean you can convince yourself this is somehow healthy!

Oat and pecan squares with caramel and chocolate 2

Once again, my toddler’s favourite supermarket magazine provides inspiration for another recipe!

Ingredients (makes approx. 18 squares)

  • 200 g / 7 oz chocolate of your choice. I used milk chocolate but you could use dark or plain.
  • 250 g / 9 oz butter/ margarine
  • 225 g / 8 oz oats
  • 250 g / 9 oz plain flour
  • 350 g / 12 oz light soft brown sugar
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 125 g / 4.5 oz pecan nuts
  • 400 g / 14 oz caramel. Handily, this is exactly the quantity in a tin you can buy (sold here in the UK by Carnation). But I’m sure you can get it in a bottle or even make your own!
  • 50 g / 2 oz chocolate for decoration

Method

Line a 30 cm x 20 cm tin (12 in x 8 in) with greaseproof (baking) paper. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C / Gas Mark 4 / 350 degrees F.

Chop 100 g of the pecans (keep the remaining 25 g for final decoration) and 200 g chocolate into small pieces. I tried to take a picture so you could see the kind of size I’m talking about… but it came out quite over-exposed. Sorry!

Oat and pecan squares with caramel and chocolate making

If you have whole oats, you need to whizz them in a food processor to break them up slightly. Alternatively, you can buy oats which are already processed (luckily this is the sort I had in the cupboard!).

Put the oats, flour, sugar and bicarb of soda in a large bowl. Melt the butter (I used a microwave, but you could melt the butter in a pan on the hob) and pour onto the dry ingredients. Stir through until all the dry ingredients are coated with the butter. Put roughly two thirds of this mixture into your tin and press down until it forms a uniform, tightly-packed layer.

Sprinkle your chopped chocolate and pecans over this lower oaty layer. Like this:

Oat and pecan squares with caramel and chocolate making stage 1

Put 50 g of your caramel in a bowl and put to one side. Pour the rest of the caramel over the mixture in your tin. Like this:

Oat and pecan squares with caramel and chocolate making stage 2

Put the final third of the oaty mixture in the tin so it covers the chocolate, pecans and caramel. Push this top oat layer down to form another even, tightly-packed layer. Put the remaining pecans on the top, so you have something that looks a bit like this:

Oat and pecan squares with caramel and chocolate making stage 3

Put the oat and pecan tray bake in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until lightly golden. Leave to cool in the tin. Turn out onto a cutting board. Drizzle with the remaining caramel and the 50 g melted chocolate.

Oat and pecan squares with caramel and chocolate 1

Wait for the toppings to set. You can hurry this process along by putting the oat and pecan tray bake in the fridge for half an hour. Slice into squares.

Oat and pecan squares with caramel and chocolate 3

While these oat and pecan squares may not sound addictive, I warn you, they are!

Oat and pecan squares with caramel and chocolate 4

This entire tray’s worth vanished far too quickly 🙂 The gooey chocolate and caramel centre is just delicious.

I’ll finish with a final picture taken in natural light:

Oat and pecan squares with caramel and chocolate 7

 

And if you’re interested in other tray bakes, please check out:

Chocolate honeycomb square with marshmallow and cookies 7

My chocolate honeycomb squares (no bake!).

Maltesers rocky road 4

My easy Maltesers rocky road (one for chocoholics!).

Claire Huston / Art and Soul

 

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28 thoughts on “Recipe | Oat and pecan squares with caramel and chocolate (tray bake)”

    • I would love to send some over. It was highly addictive and I’ve been banned from making it again until we have more people in the house to share it with!
      Lovely and soft inside with gooey caramel and chocolate. Mmmmmm… 😉

      Like

      Reply

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    • It turns out the nuts aren’t essential. When I was making a second batch with hazelnuts, the toddler distracted me at an essential stage and the tray went in the oven sans nuts. The result was still delicious. The caramel and chocolate layer on the inside makes it 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  12. OK – I do not have a sweet tooth and I hate baking, but every time I read one of your recipes and look at the pictures, I have this strange desire to make and devour everything! (And my children would certainly welcome the change from store bought cookies… 😀 )

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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