I'm a baker and have been making this bar for years. Here's how we make it: Don't melt the butter. Pecans instead of walnuts, use a 14 oz. bag of caramels. Put 2/3 of the batter in the pan and bake about 6-8 min.(not 3) until the top is no longer dark and shiney. Pour caramel over then sprinkle the chips on top. Spoon small mounds of remaining batter over the top. Return to oven 6-8 min. You may have to adjust baking time the second time depending on your oven. It's also best to let it sit for several hours or overnight for before cutting.  -  05 Sep 2006  (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)

Oh my! I made these for the holidays and people loved them, even if most thought these were brownies. I used Swiss chocolate cake mix because I could not find German. Also, I used caramel spread (like kids put on toast) instead of the melted caramels. This was easy and tasted great. I was sure that I did not have enough "dough" to cover for the top layer but the cake batter spead nicely while baking and they turned out perfect.  -  31 Dec 2006  (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm good! I messed up the dough and only added 1/3 cup of evap milk. I baked the dough for about 10 minutes- until the top was no longer shiny. When I melted the caramels in the microwave, I added 2/3 cup evap milk (to make up for what I didn't put in the batter originally), poured that over the baked dough, sprinkled the choc. chips on the caramel, sprinkled the nuts over that (used walnuts) and then plopped 'piles' of remaining batter over the toppings- didn't try to spread it out at all. I ended up cooking this for much longer than the recipe states- started with 15 minutes and checked it 5-10 min. intervals until it wasn't 'jiggly' anymore- I think I ended up cooking it for about 35 minutes. Keep an eye on it as it's cooking and you'll be ok. These are DECADENT and delicious!!!!!!!!! Thanks for a great dessert!!  -  04 Aug 2007  (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)