I flew to Denver on Wednesday to visit the in-laws, some old college friends, and my own parents who were in town for a wedding. I had a disaster of a flight with Owen (Brett didn’t fly in until the next day), he through the tantrum of all tantrums and 20 minutes into our flight, we were both in tears. It was baaaddd.
But, we made it! And the minute we got off the plane, Owen was happy as a clam. I, on the other hand, was still flustered. Several women on the same flight made me feel slightly better when they approached me in the baggage claim area telling me, “It gets better, I promise,” “You handled it so well,” or “Mine did the same thing when they were that age.”
But I think what made me feel the best, was the 80 year old man who sat next to us the entire flight acting as if he hardly noticed it, and simply told me, “You know what, sweetie, you’ll never see any of these people again. So don’t worry about it.”
That did make me feel better. Along with the out-of-control amounts of diet coke and these bars I consumed over the next 24 hours.
I was thumbing through my mother in law’s binder of favorite recipes and found this: 
Chocolate Carnutty Bars? Just what I needed. They sounded complex but were really easy to throw together. For the cookie-like crust, simply mix a white cake mix, oats, peanut butter, and a little bit of milk and an egg.
Next is a creamy caramel layer made by mixing a brick of cream cheese with a jar of caramel sauce.
Yes, an entire jar!
Yes, an entire jar!
Pour that over the crust
Then top it off with a layer of chocolate chips, cocktail peanuts, and some of the crumbly cake mixture sprinkled over the top and bake for about 30 minutes.
You don’t want to know how quickly the pan disappeared.
Carnutty Bars
Ingredients
1 box white cake mix
1 cup quick oats
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tbs milk
1 egg
1 (8 oz.) pkg cream cheese
1 (12 1/4 oz) jar caramel ice-cream topping
1 (11.5 oz pkg) milk chocolate chips
1 cup cocktail peanuts
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Coat a 9 X 13 in pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
For crumb mixture, in a large mixing bowl combine cake mix and oats. Using a pastry blender, cut in peanut butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs.
Beat egg with milk, add to crumb mixture, stirring until well mixed. Reserve 3/4 cup of the mixture. Press remaining mixture into bottom of the prepared pan.
For the filling, beat cream cheese with a mixer until smooth. Add caramel topping and beat until mixed. Spread on top of crumb mixture. Sprinkle chocolate pieces on top, then add the peanutes to cover. Sprinkle evenly with reserved crumb mixture. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely. Cut into 24 bars. Store, covered, in the refrigerator.
from Lucy Straily
makes 24 bars
Oh yum. Those look so good, they wouldn’t last long around me. Thanks for sharing!
Aimee @ ShugarySweets
OHHH I’m so sorry the flight was rough. I always feel so bad for moms on planes…but you survived! If you ever need a night out, let me know, I haven’t babysat in a while! 🙂
Oh my gosh all my favorite ingredients!! I have to try these, thanks! 😀
These just look silly delicious! YUM!
New to your blog; happy I found you!
Mary xo
Delightful Bitefuls
That looks like one heavenly bar!!! Peanut butter, chocolate and caramel! Mmmmhmmmm!!!