DARCI HANNAH. As you might be aware, my 7th Beacon Bakeshop book MURDER AT THE CAMPFIRE COOKOUT came out at the end of June. Yay! I was so excited to launch this book into the world because I love a good campfire story, I love a good mystery, and most importantly I love sharing yummy recipes with readers. When I was coming up with the recipes for this book, I knew that I was going to include my very special recipe for Caramelita Bars. This recipe is special to me because it was the first hand-written recipe I had ever gotten and it started me off on what would become a lifetime of collecting delicious recipes.
When I was in my teens, I spent a good deal of my summers at a wonderful camp in northern Wisconsin called Camp Manitowish. I started out as a camper, then graduated to outpost adventures, and was even a camp counselor. One of the best parts of camp was the food served in the great dining hall. The camp employed a great cook, and that lady always brought her A-game. It was her desserts us campers loved best, especially on the nights when she would make Caramelita Bars. It wasn’t until I was a young camp counselor heading off to college in the fall that I asked for the recipe for my favorite camp treat. The cook, I don’t remember her name, was happy to give it to me. She scribbled it down on a note card and handed it to me. When I looked at the recipe, my jaw dropped. She had given me the recipe used for the entire camp! I realized then that it was going to take some hefty math skills to reduce the ingredients to a manageable 9 x 13 pan size!
I’m still not sure I reduced this recipe correctly, but my whittled down version has always been a hit with my family. Then, when it was time to add the recipe to my book, I copied it down from my recipe card. It was kind of messy and faded, but I thought I had it. It wasn’t until I made these bars for this post I realized I made a mistake on the recipe. I put 1 stick of butter when it should have been 1 cup! Sheesh! So, today I’m giving you the correct recipe. If you have a copy of my book, please make this correction. If you don’t the bars will still be delicious, but very crumbly!
Caramelita Camp Bars
Prep time: 15 minutes. Cook time: 30 minutes. Makes one 9 x 13 pan of cookies, 24 servings.
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 ¼ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 ¼ cups chopped walnuts
1 cup caramel ice cream topping
¼ cup flour to stir into the caramel ice cream topping
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Stir the ¼ cup of flour into the caramel topping and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix 1 ½ cups of flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add melted butter and stir until the mixture is moist.
Line a 9 x 13 pan with parchment paper or grease well. Press half the oat mixture into the bottom of the pan and bake for 10 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle it with the chocolate chips and the chopped walnuts. Drizzle the caramel topping over it and.
Top with remaining oat mixture. Bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes or until done. Enjoy!
You can print your copy of the recipe here!
Do you like bar cookies? If so, what is your favorite bar cookie?
Connect with Darci at www.darcihannah.com
Instagram: @authordarcihannah
Facebook: @Author Darci Hannah
Murder at the Campfire Cookout
By Darci Hannah
Book #7 in the Beacon Bakeshop Mystery Series
When Lindsey Bakewell leaves behind her lighthouse bakeshop, her boyfriend, Rory, and her Newfoundland dog, Wellington, for a glamping trip with her mother in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the bears leave them alone—but a killer doesn’t. . .
Converting the old Beacon Point lighthouse into a bakery is as adventurous as Lindsey cares to get. Her mother, Ellie, a former 80s fashion model, likes her creature comforts even more—until she sees a business opportunity for her Beacon Harbor fashion boutique when she’s invited by the Mitten Kittens Glamping Club on a woodsy getaway.
Far from roughing it, the ladies will be warm and cozy in chic vintage campers. Ellie insists Lindsey come along to win the campfire cookout contest. Campfire cooking has come a long way from bacon and beans. Soon Lindsey is making pizza, berry cobbler, and gooey Carmelita camping bars.
But the festive spirit is soon dampened when a body is found in Ellie’s camper. It seems like an accidental death until everyone’s tires are slashed and it’s clear the glampsite has become a crime scene. With no cell service to call for help, it’s up to Lindsey to smoke out the killer around the campfire . . .
Because no one is out of the woods yet.
A Spirited Supper at Dundoon Castle
By Darci Hannah
Book #2 in the Food & Spirits Mystery Series
When chef Bridget “Bunny” MacBride got a role on the reality show Food & Spirits, she thought “spirits” meant cocktails. Instead, she’s cooking up dinners meant to tempt the departed to appear. And to her surprise, she’s discovered abilities to connect with the beyond—and crack murder cases . . .
Now that Bunny’s entrées come with a side of the Other Side, it comes in handy to have a grandma who’s friendly with the elderly owners of a haunted Scottish castle. During Bunny’s childhood she heard all about Dundoon’s bloody history and the “ghostly piper” who roamed the grounds—and soon she’ll be visiting the ancient place with her ghost hunter and psychic co-stars. The annual bagpipe competition in the late piper’s honor will make for some good footage as well.
After Bunny serves a feast fit for a 17th century king, including lamb chops with plenty of fresh herbs, she heads outdoors for the ghost hunt. But in the dark, dense fog, someone fatally plunges from the clifftop over the loch. The sound that follows is a mournful, otherworldly bagpipe . . . and once the body of another perished piper is retrieved, Bunny is determined to solve this Highlands homicide—and prevent a killer from getting off scot-free . . .
Trade Paperback Release!
A Fatal Feast at Bramsford Manor
By Darci Hannah
Book #1 in the Food & Spirits Mystery Series
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ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!
While filming at a haunted English manor, chef Bunny MacBride’s big break on her first reality TV show may be cut short by an unscripted murder in Darci Hannah’s new Food & Spirits cozy mystery series . . .
It isn’t how chef Bridget “Bunny” MacBride imagined her own cooking show unfolding. But, if preparing historic meals with a modern flair is what it takes to get her cooking on the air, she can deliver, even if her dinner guest is a ghost. That’s the premise of the new reality TV show Food & Spirits, where Chef Bunny teams up with ghost hunter Brett Bloom and psychic medium Giff McGrady to visit haunted locales around the world and tempt lingering spirits back to the table with a beloved meal. For their first episode, the Food & Spirits team sets off to investigate Bramsford Manor, a historic house turned famously haunted hotel, in picturesque Hampshire, England. The sprawling estate is said to be home to the Mistletoe Bride, a young woman who died in the 18th century, the victim of a tragic accident on her Christmas wedding night.
Bunny leaves the spectral search to the pros and focuses on the feast, creating a traditional English holiday wedding dinner, complete with a gorgeous prime rib, Yorkshire pudding, and rustic apple tarts. But Bunny’s task is made more difficult when someone steals a boning knife from her custom kit. Alas, when the blade finally turns up again—in the chest of an all-too-human dinner guest—Bunny’s woes only grow as she is named a lead suspect in the case! Now, with a haunted house full of living residents, staff, and crew, Bunny will need the help of Brett, Giff, and her clairvoyant Grandma Mac, to solve this murder before the manor gains another ghost!
