Granny Mabel's Best Bar Cookies

I just realized I've never rated this, although I've made at least 50 batches! These are so wonderful, I found them on this site after tasting the same recipe at a popular sandwich chain, called "Sheila's Dream Bars" there. This is the exact same recipe, and it is buttery, but wonderful. You can omit 1 stick of butter without impacting the recipe too much if needed, I also often cut back on the sugar just 3-4 tblsp or so since the filling is so sweet. It definitely helps to refrigerate the dough for the top layer before adding and try to smoosh it flat and piece together as much as possible. And definitely keep the filling at least half an inch from the edges, I also press the dough down all around the edges to keep the caramel from leaking to the edge and burning. I have also started making different variations of these bars with different fillings - strawberry preserves and cheesecake filling, leftover apple pie filling and pecans, leftover bananas foster filling...all wonderful. They look nice when you wrap them in plastic wrap in squares and are very easy to make - thanks so much for ending my search!!

These were way too buttery. Even after they cooled off the butter was all over everyones hands and plates. Very greasy. I put them in the fridge and they were a little better after that. If I make them again I will definitely use less butter.

I can't believe these don't have more reviews! They are the best cookie bars EVER, and very easy to make. One tip: Do NOT (I repeat: DO NOT) cut back on the butter. Your crust will be dry and won't stick together, and they won't be as good. What's the point anyway? I don't get these people who cut down on butter to make something "healthier." Whether you use 1 c. or 1 1/2 c. butter doesn't much matter, since it's still butter and still fattening. Have a little piece and enjoy. :) I made the recipe as written, adding 1 t. vanilla to the melted butter for more flavor. I also had to cook my crust a little longer (about 12 minutes) to get it golden brown. These bars were crunchy, a little salty, and sweet - seriously the best cookie bar. The chocolate and caramel blended together, and the taste is addicting. The whole pan disappeared in minutes at the office.

Yummy yummy! I went with the suggestion of using 3/4 cup granulated sugar & 3/4 cup brown sugar. You could cut down butter, but I found that by baking an additional 10-15 minutes it allowed the gooey topping to become more golden and crunchy. I used dulce de leche & it was just marvelous!

I make this over and over again bc I am ASKED to make it over and over again!!! (And bc I love it too!) These are amazing and there is no egg involved! I do make a change to the recipe and I use peanut butter AND chocolate chips, and instead of caramel I make peanut butter glaze that I put in the middle as well as on top. It is really simple-2 TBSP peanut butter, confectioner's sugar and milk until it is a drizzly consistency. YUM!!

These are probably the best cookies/bars I've ever had or made. I have had a ton of people request them at my work and I've had to give the recipe to like ten people. The only changes I made were to: change the sugar to 3/4 c. sugar and 3/4 c. brown sugar, and add a tsp of vanilla to the melted butter. I also use 3/4 cup of caramel because I couldn't find the right size jar (also, I bake 15 and 15 because my oven is finiky).

I accidentally used 1 1/2 sticks of butter instead of 1 1/2 cups, and it was still quite buttery. Turned out great.

These are quite similar to the "Sheila's Dream Bars" at Potbelly's. They were wonderful and just the recipe that I was looking for.

Fast, easy & delicious! I'll make them again & won't change a thing.

I used 1/2 c wheat flour and 1.5 c white flour, 1 c brown sugar and 1/2 c white sugar, 1 c butter, and needed to bake for 15 minutes on both baking cycles. It was perfect. I have also tried this with jelly filling instead of the chocolate and caramel and it is perfect that way, too.

I was looking to make something similar to Sheila's Dream Bars and came across this recipe. It comes pretty close. I couldn't find caramel topping so I used dulce de leche, which was just lovely. As far as the butter goes I unfortunately decided to follow the recipe and I have to agree, 1.5 cups is way too much butter (and I love butter). You can feel the grease ooze out from between your teeth when you chew them. I will definitely make these again and definitely only use 1 cup of butter.

I used less butter and these cookies where delicious. I am coming back to make a second batch since the first ones got eaten so quickly.

Followed the recipe exactly. I was on a mission to duplicate Sheila's Dream Bar from Pot Belly. I think these are pretty darn close! LOVE LOVE LOVE these!

Yummy!! Nice and sweet, so ok to cut in smaller pieces. Foil your pan so you can pull it out and trim up the edges before cutting. I've made them a few times. A good recipe to make ahead of time and put in fridge/freezer.

Wow! These cookies are really rich! I followed the recipe except I decreased the butter to 1 cup as per others suggestions. Husband just kept saying "Yum!!!" A little rich or me but will make again because he loved them so much.

I didn't think they had too much butter. My daughter and her friend loved them, but I didn't find them worth the calories.

Love them. Wonderful recipe. I use a 13by 9 pan and keep them in the fridge, and cut into small pieces. Keeping them cold makes it easy to grab one (or three) really quickly. I have made it several times this past month! Only thing I change is only 1 cup chocolate chips- I think with 2 cups you loose the other flavors.

Followed the advice to cut butter to 1 cup and mixed brown/granulated sugar. My son made these for his 4H fair, and they were champion in his category- the judge said she had never had a better textured bar cookie! Very good cookie.

These are just too much -- too sweet and too gooey -- and I'm the queen of loving too much. My husband, sister and niece liked these so I was happy to unload them. I don't know what could be done differently. Maybe I'll try making my favorite oatmeal cookie dough and layering that instead of the mixture they suggest. I just didn't care for this recipe.

Just amazing! I only used 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1 cup of butter. Did not have rolled oats, used 6 instant oatmeal packages instead, and still it was fantastic. Everyone raved about it and could not stop licking their fingers.

Fabulous if you cut the butter down to 1 c. I made my own caramel sauce and it was divine. The hubby asked me several times if I had saved the recipe! An added bonus is the similarity to the Potbelly's treat called Sheila's Dream Bars. I used to work for the real Sheila back in the day and she kept these stashed in her freezer. Now I live thousands of miles away from a Potbelly's, so when I get a craving, I'll be whipping up a batch of these!

Excellent! You will not be disappointed by this recipe. Yum!

I halved the recipe and made it in a 8x8 pan. I sprayed it really well with Pam and had no problem with sticking. I did need to make about a 1/2 cup more crumble so the bottom layer was not so thin and fragile. I only used 1/2 cup melted butter and did not have an issue with crumbling. I cut down on chocolate chips and added about 1/2 cup chopped pecans. This recipe is very very sweet. I think next time I will use caramel candies (or milk duds or rolos) instead of caramel sauce so it will be chewier. Overall these were good but not great. UPDATE: Added a star....After refigerating them overnight they tasted much better. Everyone loved them.

Still a little too gooey, had to put them back into the oven for another 15 minutes. Yummy! Thanks for the recipe, Amy!

great recipe. easy and delicious - how can you go wrong with that combination.

Very easy to make. Made it for a party and everyone loved them. The chocolate layer is delicious and gooey. I saved some of the chocolate chips, melted them in the microwave, and dribbled on the cooled bars to decorate. However, I found them a little heavy on the oats and butter. Taste like chocolate oatmeal cookies. May try to cut down on these ingredients next time.

Yummy. I brought these to a work pot luck and half of them were gone by the time lunch rolled around.

I made exactly as written and they were fantastic! It was not too much butter, if you want a healthy snack don't make these. Cut up beautifully and taste delicious, will keep this recipe for sure.

These are so good!!! When I was making them I thought they might be kind of dry. But, I was wrong. These are very moist and chewy. I will definately make these again. Probably one of my favorite bar recipes!!

We loved this recipe. Very rich but very good.

This recipe tastes just like the bars at Potbelly Sandwich, awesome!! Thanks for the great and easy recipe.

My daughter loves these Cookies. When I took them to work, 3 people asked for the recipe. This is so rich it is almost like candy rather than a cookie. I followed the recipee with no modifications.

I made these today to take to an out of town Thanksgiving get-together. They were very easy to make and I used Smuckers Butterscotch Carmel in the filling along with the chips. I let them cool thoroughly and they wanted to come apart when I tried to cut them and put them in my container. I was a little put out - but then again it has 3 sticks of butter in it!!!! My husband and I both tasted them (made them for the first time today) and we both thought the taste was wonderful. They're just very gooey!!! I'll put them in the car overnight (it's gonna get COLD!!!) and hopefully by the time we get there they will "firm up" a bit. I would still make them again, but might adjust the amount of butter. Thanks for a great and easy bar. I will definitely make them again.

These turned out ok, made them as recipe directed and they were good. Then tried them with peanut butter chips and hot fudge sauce, my son loved them that way but he love anything peanut butter. If I made them again with the hot fudge sauce I wouldn't add the flour to the sauce as it is already thick and I had a hard time spreading it over the chips.

I tried a reviewer's suggestion of using strawberry preserves and the already-made Philly cheesecake filling which comes in a tub in the dairy section of the grocery (my hubby doesn't care for a caramel-y taste). Pretty disappointing flavor. He said if he is going to waste his calories he'll do it on something which is better-tasting than this!

Amazing. I used a 16 oz jar of caramel and a bag of chocolate chips. I used instant oats as well and turned out amazing. Definitely not dry - These are so moist and creamy. Perfection.

SO YUMMY! I cut the butter down to 3/4 cup. I only had half of the caramel sauce needed, so I melted about 2 cups mini candy bars, ( Snickers, Milky Way, 3 Muskateers, & Hershey bars in a couple tablespoons of milk to thin it down. Spread on the crust part, & poured the 1/2 jar of caramel sauce over that.It was pure rich buttery goodness!!

I didn't change a thing & they were inhaled by husband's friends. I was aghast at the amount of butter and after (later) reading other reviews, I think I will try to reduce the amount in the future.

These bars are great for a party! I suggest not cutting the butter, like others have suggested; if you do, the crust is too crumbly, makes a mess and are hard to handle.

SO VERY DELISH!!!!!!! Used Mrs. Richardson's caramel/butterscotch topping. It's my favorite. So yuummyy!

Love these bars, and they are always a hit!!!! I used 1 cup of butter instead of 1 1/2....also added butterscotch chips with the chocolate chips.

AWESOME!

These were SO good! I reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup and they were still sweet. After they had cooled, I cut and individually wrapped half of the bars to freeze. They freeze really well!

These bars are awesome! I experimented also with Milky Way ice cream topping and they also turned out yummy! They are like a candy bar.

I followed others recommendations to reduce the butter and sugar and replace some of the brown with white. It is amazing. Very decadent, so will only make for special occasions. Next time will add either walnuts or pecans.

These are awesome if you like that gooey bar cookie this is it. I followed recipe exactly and came out perfect. Very quick and easy recipe. I followed suggestion of another reviewer and made sure not to spread caramel all the way to side. (so caramel did not stick to side of pan.) These are a little rich so cut into smaller serving size. I bet these would be good with a little ice cream on the side. Definitely will be making again.

Amazing! Very rich. I didn't have a jar of carmel, but did have a bag of Kraft carmel bits (something new I found this weekend!)and sprinkled those on after the chocolate chips. Yum! Next time I'll probably try it with less butter and longer bake time for the second round.

Kids loved it. Super sweet

yummy! me and hubby fought over last square!

Extremely delicious and rich! Cut your pieces small! Freeze wonderfully. Will def be making these again.

Quick oats?

I don’t know how anyone could give less than 5 stars. These were soooo good. Brought them to work and everyone loved them. Left some home, they loved them. Followed the recipe exactly. Let it cool completely. Not too greasy or buttery at all. This recipe is a keeper.

These cookies are excellent. I did cut out 1 stick of butter and the recipe turned out fine. I suggest putting them in the fridge after they have cooled. They get really chewy!!!!

This is good but really rich - as I guess I would have known had I noticed it uses 3 sticks of butter! And an entire jar of caramel sauce. It's like a giant candy bar. I would make it again but cut it down to a third of the size, because no one wanted more than a very small piece. I had to put it in the fridge overnight to get it to set enough to cut it into bars.

These were so delicious!! My husband ate half of the pan himself. I did choose to only use two sticks of butter instead of three. I also added peanut butter chips because we are peanut butter fans. These would have been wonderful with just chocolate chips though. The crust makes a great base that you could also play with. We are already concocting other fillings. Do make sure that you leave about an inch of crust around the edges as you add the caramel!

I've made a different variation of this recipe many times using caramel candies instead of the topping, which had a better texture, but the topping was sooo much easier. I also added some chopped walnuts over the caramel. (1 cup) I too, found this version to have way too much butter. I only made it once so far, but it was so gooey and the butter was actually oozing out of the topping that was in the bowl. IT was extremely hot in my kitchen that day, so that could have been the problem. I put them in the freezer after I cut them up. That helped a lot. I will definitely make these again but with much less butter. Maybe 1 stick less. My favorite!!!

Very sweet. Otherwise good. I would reduce the brown sugar and the amount of syrup next time.

Ok I didn’t have caramel so I used Butterscotch topping and I had to use a cup of white sugar. They’re in the oven now so I will let you know.

yum! These are quick, easy and delicious!!

I made these because of other people's references to Sheila's Dream Bars from Potbelly's. I was not disappointed. Other reviewers have said the bars have too much butter and/or chocolate. There is no such thing! These are rich, gooey and wonderful.

This is a great recipe to make gluten and dairy free. I used GF flour, oats and vegan butter. It turned out really well and tasted amazing. Not all recipes will convert as easily, but Granny Mabel's works perfectly. And it's such a quick and easy recipe to make when you're craving a little something sweet.

I thought these bars were AMAZING! All my friends loved them! They are very rich, but delicious. I lined my pans with parchment instead of greasing them or anything, and the bars came out beautifully. Great recipe! Very easy!

My family loved this!!! Sadly I'm gluten free so I couldn't have any but my family ate it up! I kinda tweaked it a little bit because I didn't have the caramel so I subbed in peanut butter and honey instead. I heated it up and drizzled that over the chocolate chips and added the topping over that. It smelled amazing and was definitely a favorite. Maybe I'll try less butter next time but all in all this was super easy and yummy!! xo

One problem, don't know whether it's just my tablet or does this happen to others also? The recipe read "6 T flour" on the first line, then "6 T flour" at the bottom. I measure all my ingredients out first, so I had 2 lots of 6 T of flour. When mixed with the crust ingredients, this yielded a mixture with he consistency of peanut butter. I was puzzled, since the instructions said to press it into the pan, and it wasn't exactly pressable. At this point I re-read the recipe, to verify the amounts. It for sure said "6T". I added a little more flour, because I thought it needed it, and spread the resulting mixture in the pan, and put it in the oven. I then switched to looking at a different recipe I was thinking of making. When I returned to this recipe, I saw it now said "2 CUPS of flour"!! Luckily the stuff in the oven hadn't baked yet, I yanked it out and added more flour. This is not the first time this has happened to me. If you have an epic fail on something others have rated highly, you might have had this happen to you, too! once I got it right, they came out great, and very easy to do. I added chopped walnuts to the dry ingredients, since my husband wants nuts in everything.

I thought these were awesome. Shared them as homemade Christmas gifts. Easy to make.

I love the Allrecipes site because of the reviews. Thanks to all who take the time. I loved this recipe because it goes together fast and doesn't use a mixer. Great recipe for teen cooks. I modified this amazing recipe by using half white, half brown for the sugars. I wasn't sure about the butter--reviews were 50/50 and next time I'll reduce to 1 cup total. I added vanilla to caramel topping. I baked crust for 15 and bars for close to 30 minutes in my new oven and that was perfect. AMAZING!! This recipe is a gem when you new a wow bite of heaven to impress your guests. PS needs several hours to cool.

The other weekend I had bars similar to these and I wanted to find the recipe, so I tried this one. These aren't as good as the other ones I had previously, but I recieved many compliments on them.

pretty good but a bit dry.

These were probably the best dessert I've ever made. We literally couldn't keep our hands off of them. I did only use 1 cup of butter since other people said it was too buttery.

Delicious!!!

Excellent. I could eat the whole pan by myself. I’ve made this too many times to count. When I’m being lazy I use cookie dough from the store.

while these don't taste bad, they are just too sweet.

Loved it! I increased the baking by 5 minutes for each layer

Too delicious just the way they are.