Salted Caramel Chocolate Oat Bars

Salted Caramel from Sally's Baking Addiction: You will want to make the salted caramel ahead of time. Sally has some really great step-by-step photos to help you out! Melt 1 cup of sugar over medium heat, being sure to constantly stir. Once the sugar is completely melted, it will be amber colored. Once all lumps are gone, stir in butter, stirring constantly. The mixture will bubble a lot, so be careful not to burn yourself. Continue to whisk the mixture until the butter is completely mixed in - about 2-3 minutes. Be patient, you really want to make sure it is all incorporated and the butter is not just sitting on top. Very slowly drizzle in the heavy cream, being sure to whisk the entire time. The mixture will bubble here too. Once all cream is added, allow mixture to boil for 1 minute and then remove from heat and stir in salt. Allow to cool slightly and transfer to jar or other container.
Line an 8x8 pan aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray
Preheat oven to 350
Combine flour, oats, egg, vanilla, brown sugar and melted butter in a bowl together. The mixture should be fairly crumbly as picture above, but will hold together when pressed between your fingers.
Press ⅔ of the mixture into the bottom of the pan.
Cook base for 12 minutes. It should be slightly golden
Remove pan from oven and add about ½ cup of the cooled salted caramel- enough to cover entire entire base with a thin layer of caramel.
Top with chocolate chips and then the remaining ⅓ of the crust mixture. Break it up and sprinkle all over the top.
Bake 20 minutes until top is golden and the caramel is bubbly. Cool completely and then cut