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Salted Caramel Bar recipe made with a sweet shortbread crust & topped with smooth caramel and sea salt. Perfectly indulgent caramel butter bar dessert!

We love caramel in our house, so these Salted Caramel Bars quickly became a favorite. I’ve taken them to a few parties and they always disappear fast. The buttery shortbread crust topped with soft, sweet caramel sprinkled with a bit of sea salt is an absolutely fantastic combination.

WHAT TYPE OF CARAMEL IS BEST FOR BAKING?

I prefer to buy either unwrapped caramel bits OR the caramel pieces in a bag that are specifically for baking, because the outer wrapper comes off really easily. Those small square caramels in the clear plastic wrapper are such a pain to unwrap! You can find the baking caramels on end caps, on the baking aisle or often in the produce section by the apples.

Caramel Bars are not difficult to make but there are a few tips that make the process much easier. First, when making the shortbread crust, lay down a piece of parchment paper in the pan first. The shortbread crust doesn’t stick, but the caramel seeps through a bit and the caramel can get stuck to the pan. So using parchment paper eliminates that mess!

SALTED CARAMEL BAR RECIPE:

1 cup butter, softened (2 cubes)
1 cup white sugar
1½ cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 TBSP vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 14 oz bag caramels, unwrapped (or 11 oz bag of unwrapped caramel bits)
⅓ cup heavy cream (or milk)
½ tsp vanilla
2 tsp coarse sea salt