Chocolate Chunk and Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

Well, yes of course there are some bars missing from that wire rack. That’s how I know these oatmeal bars are ooey and gooey and lick-your-fingers chocolatey, leaving you helpless not to reach for another. I mean, I knew they’d be amazing going in just given the ingredient list. Old fashioned oats, bittersweet chocolate, peanut butter, brown sugar…how can you go wrong? The nutty, old fashioned oats separate these from a blondie and give them an amazing chewy texture. They’d be a great mid-week bake, just be sure take the butter out of the refrigerator so it’s ready to go when you are.

This is a recipe from Bake from Scratch magazine that they call Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, but I don't think that name does the chocolate chunks and peanut buttery-ness of them justice. (Yes, these are the crazy things food bloggers think about.) The recipe itself however, is super easy to put together, I just have a few minor tips below.

Chocolate Chunk and Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bar Recipe:

https://www.bakefromscratch.com/oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookie-bars/

Yield:
I halved recipe, baked it in an 8x8 pan, and cut 16, 2-inch square bars. As written, Bake from Scratch says 12 bars, so obviously they’re cutting them bigger. Nothing wrong with that!

Difficulty:
Easy

A few tips:

For the aforementioned ooey gooey texture, I slightly underbaked them. The edges should be set and have pulled slightly away from the sides of the pan, the top golden brown, but the center still a little not-quite-set looking. It will firm up while cooling. For me, this was around 21 minutes, but oven temps vary so check after 20.

For a chocolate chunk in every bite, I mixed 1/3 of the chocolate chunks into the batter. Then spread half the batter in the pan and sprinkled 1/3 of the chocolate chunks on top, added the second half of the batter, and sprinkled the remaining 1/3 on top as well as all of the little chocolate shards and crumbs that you get when you chop the chocolate. Chocolate waste is a terrible thing. 

Speaking of chocolate, it would absolutely work to use chocolate chips instead of chopping chocolate. BUT…they won’t be as melty and will definitely have a different look. 

For the best texture, use whole old fashioned oats, not steel cut oats or instant oats.

Finally, the recipe is partially an ad for a certain brand of butter, but you can use whatever brand of unsalted butter you have in the same amounts listed.