The Green Harbor Labor Day Races were the highlight of my summers growing up. Every year, we spent the long weekend at the beach with my mom’s whole family, competing in (and winning) swimming, running, and three-legged races, egg tosses, and the local parade. We had cookouts, went looking for crabs, walked on the jetty, and generally did everything you would think we would do in a quintessential New England beach town.

For the past six years, I’ve had to miss Labor Day festivities for various reasons, and the new wave of my younger cousins have begun to compete in the races my brother and I used to love. However, this year, I finally got to go back, and it was absolutely wonderful.

I spent the morning out on the beach, walked the jetty, watched the parade, ran in the road race with my mom, and, with the help of my dad, successfully put my brother in his place in a game of Cornhole. Really, it was blissful.

Of course, I didn’t pass up the opportunity to bake in my bake center back home either. Now, I know that since it’s September everyone is racing to find pumpkin-themed foods again, and, believe me, I’m totally on board. This morning, I had a pumpkin bagel with pumpkin cream cheese and a pumpkin iced coffee. But, since I think pumpkin goods can really be made straight through from now until Christmas, I decided to use Fall’s other baking ingredient: apples. (Side note: if you need pumpkin things NOW, click any of the above links for some of my other recipes.)Fortunately, my dad knows me very well, and had gotten a bag of apples in anticipation of my visit home, which I was able to sacrifice four of for this particular recipe.

First, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and shortening in a large bowl until creamy. I’m not sure why I decided to use a hand mixer, but it did serve as a good reminder of why I love my stand mixer.
Then, add the oats, 1 3/4 cups flour, baking soda, and salt. Beat to thoroughly combine. Set aside two cups of the mixture in a small bowl. Press the remaining oat mixture into the bottom of a 13×9 inch ungreased pan.In a medium bowl, mix together the apples and 3 tablespoons of flour. I made use of my mom’s excellent apple-peeling ability, demonstrated here, and cut the apples into small cubes to make the cutting-into-bars step later on easier. Spread the apples over the oat layer. In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the caramels (shout out to Pete for unwrapping three bags of caramels!) until smooth, stirring occasionally. This will take awhile – it’s not just you making some grave mistake.Pour the caramel evenly over the apple layer. Sprinkle with the reserved oat mixture and press down lightly. Bake at 400°F for 25 minutes, until top is golden and apples are tender.Cool slightly, but cut into squares while still warm so that you don’t have to deal with hardened caramel. Store in an airtight container, and serve either warm with ice cream (my cousin Ali’s suggestion) or on their own.  Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Bars

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 1/2 cups apples, peeled and chopped (about 3-4 medium)
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 14 ounces caramels

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, beat together the brown sugar, butter, and shortening until creamy.
2. Add the flour, quick-cooking oats, salt, and baking soda, and continue to beat until well combined.
3. Set aside two cups of the oat mixture. Press remaining mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 9×13 inch pan.
4. Spread the chopped apples over the oat layer.
5. In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the caramels, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Pour caramel evenly over apple layer.
6. Sprinkle top with remaining oat mixture and press down lightly.
7. Baket at 400°F for 25 minutes or until crumb mixture is golden and apples are tender. Cut into bars while still warm.