Gluten Free Salted Caramel Cookie Bar Recipe (dairy free + vegan option)

Gluten free salted caramel cookie bar recipe, anyone? Not even the cookie monster himself is prepared for a cookie quite like this!

Gluten free salted caramel cookie bar recipe – my favourite seven words! Imagine a super soft cookie that’s crisp on the outside, chewy in the middle, packed with chocolate chips and stuffed with salted caramel. Then, go ahead and bake them!

With my gluten free salted caramel cookie bar recipe, it’s the exact same deal as with *all* my recipes. You’d never know it was gluten free AT ALL… honestly.

(the only way you could tell that this is gluten free by tasting it, is by knowing that I baked it… and that I always bake everything gluten free ?)

I really do feel that in 2020, there’s no more excuses for creating recipes that taste inferior to ‘regular’ muggle food anymore. When I first had to go gluten free 10+ years ago and I tried some of the products out there… I instantly assumed that removing gluten meant removing any hope of a nice texture and taste.

But 10 years later I’ve come to realise that it definitely doesn’t have to be that way at all! Granted, some supermarket products still have a long way to go, but when you’re baking something yourself at home, it’s a totally different prospect.

So even if I don’t bang on about it, you can rest assured that my goal with every recipe is to make it taste exactly like it would if it contained gluten… but of course, it doesn’t! 

And since so many of you loved my classic gluten free cookie bar recipe, I absolutely had to come back and remix it a little. And by remix, I mean stuff it with a salted caramel layer and add some chunky white chocolate chips!

So let me reintroduce you: firstly, there’s a bottom layer of chocolate and white chocolate chip cookie, followed by a layer of thick, gooey salted caramel, then it’s finished with another layer of crispy choc/white choc cookie.

After one bite, you’ll wonder why on Earth the only thing we’re ever offered is a gluten free brownie ? Making this isn’t rocket science!

These are the cookie bars of my dreams and the great thing is that they’re actually really simple to make. So if you want to bake to impress, get your aprons on and let’s get baking – here’s what you’ll need first of all…

Ingredients for my gluten free salted caramel cookie bar

For the cookie bar

• 130g butter (dairy free if necessary)
• 50g caster sugar
• 150g light brown sugar
• 1 large egg (egg replacer if necessary)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 280g gluten free plain flour
• 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp cornflour (also known as corn starch)
• 100g white chocolate chips (dairy free if necessary)
• 100g milk chocolate chips (dairy free if necessary)

For the caramel

• 90 g butter (dairy free alternative)
• 80g light brown sugar
• 30ml golden syrup
• 200g of condensed milk (vegan condensed milk if dairy free and/or vegan)
• 1/4 tsp salt

For the topping (all optional)

• chocolate, melted (any types – white, dark, milk)
• extra caramel

Ok, so here’s how to make my gluten free salted caramel cookie bars recipe. If you want this info in a more condensed format, keep scrolling until you reach the recipe card below ??

1. Preheat your oven to 160C Fan / 180C. Prepare a 9-inch square baking tin with baking paper (leave enough overhang to lift out the bars later once cooked). I do this by shoving my baking paper into the tin and moulding it to the shape of the tin as best I can. Then I use some pegs to keep it in place for now.

2. Grab a large mixing bowl and add your melted butter and both sugars. Then, mix together until totally combined – it will take a few minutes with a spatula by hand.

3. Add in your egg and vanilla extract and mix again until fully combined.

4. Add in your gluten free flour, xanthan gum, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cornflour and give it a good mix (I still do this by hand). It can take quite a bit of time to fully combine but you should be left with a yummy cookie dough! Make sure there’s no moisture at the bottom that hasn’t been mixed in.

5. Add in your chocolate chips and mix into the dough evenly. Leave a few chocolate chips out (20-30g) to pop in the top of the cookie bars.

6. Place HALF of your cookie dough into your prepared tin. I spoon mine in and push it to the edges making sure its an even layer without any gaps. (Get your hands in there if need be!) Put the tin and the mixing bowl with the rest of your cookie dough to one side for now.

7. To make your caramel, put your condensed milk, butter, sugar, golden syrup, and salt into a saucepan. Heat so that the butter melts completely and the sugar dissolves. Keep stirring throughout.

8. Bring your mixture to the boil and then simmer it for a further 10 minutes (stirring all the time) until the caramel has thickened and become a slightly darker colour.

9. Pour the caramel carefully and evenly over the cookie dough base that’s in your baking tin. Leave a small gap around the edge of the cookie dough.

10. Gently press the rest of the cookie dough from your mixing bowl on top of the caramel layer. I put it on one lump at a time, all over the caramel layer, and gradually press it down so that the top is totally covered.

 

11. Push in a few extra chocolate chips into the top of the cookie dough. This will help to make sure you can still see some chips on top after baking them, otherwise they can look a bit plain from above!

12. Place in your preheated oven for about 30 minutes. You can check it it’s done by poking it with a skewer – when it comes out fairly clean it should be done (it might take a little longer, but remember the caramel will set).

13. Leave to cool in the tin (you can lift them out to cool on a cooling rack after about 20 minutes if you want to). Lift them up by the paper to do this, don’t try and use an utensils to lift them out!

14. Drizzle with a little extra melted chocolate and caramel (optionally) and then cut into squares. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading all about my gluten free salted caramel cookie bar recipe! If you make it, I’d love to see how it turned out so don’t forget to take a snap of your creations and tag me on Instagram!

Any questions about the recipe? Please do let me know by following me on Instagram and leaving me a comment on a recent photo!

Thanks for reading,

Becky xxx

Oh and don’t forget to pin this for later!