Caramel Nut Chocolate Squares

When my sister was down-sizing in preparation to move from a large home to a small apartment, she gave me a whole BUNCH of cookbooks.  One was entitled Our Mom's Best Recipes (and Dad's) Vol. II.  It was... "Dedicated to the Best Moms and Dads in the World!" and sponsored by the First United Methodist Youth in December of 1994.   I found this particular recipe, submitted by Carolyn Whisenant, inside of that booklet.  After they were baked, my "taste tester" said he approved of their moistness, chewiness, and... TASTE!

INGREDIENTS:

• 14 oz. package of light caramels (or approximately 50), UNwrapped. (P.S.  I do NOT like the job of UNwrapping caramels!  Usually, IF any children are around, they more than gladly do it for me just so they can have some of the "extras".  There were no children here today.)
• 1/3 cup evaporated milk (I found that, by using a small 5 oz. can of evaporated milk, I had  enough for the two separate amounts called for in this recipe without having any left over to "waste"?)

......................................

• 1 package German Chocolate cake mix (as is)
• 3/4 cup melted butter
• 1/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1 cup chopped nuts (Today, I used pecans)
• 1 cup (or 6 oz.) chocolate chips-- you can choose between the semi-sweet or milk chocolate variety.  (Personally, I think they end up being toooooooooo sweet with milk chocolate chips.)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a saucepan, heat UNwrapped caramels with 1/3 cup evaporated milk.  Heat over low/medium heat until caramels are melted.  Stir until smooth and set aside.
2. Grease and flour a 9x13" pan.  (I lined a pan with foil, and then used non-stick spray on that. This way I could lift them out of the pan for easier cutting after they cooled and the caramel firmed up.)
3. In a larger bowl, combine dry cake mix, melted butter, the other 1/3 cup evaporated milk and the chopped nuts.   (Just because it's something I choose to do, I first rub the dry cake mix through a mesh screen-type strainer to get rid of any dry lumps.)
4. By hand, stir until dough holds together.
5. Press 1/2 of the dough into the baking pan, saving the rest for topping to be added later.
6. Bake at 350-degrees for 6 minutes.
7. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the baked/hot crust.  Spread caramel mixture over the chips.
8. Crumble the remaining dough over the caramel/chips layer.  (In order to accomplish this, I dropped very LITTLE dabs of dough on the caramel layer until I had "most" of the surface covered by little bits of dough.)
9. Return to oven and bake 15 to 18 minutes more, depending on how your own oven heats.
10. Cool slightly.
11. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to let the caramel layer set before cutting.

I often bake things like this and then put them into 

the freezer for sharing when others stop in.