Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

Kevin came home with a couple new recipes to try last week.  My husband has a habit of spotting good recipes and emailing them to me or printing them out.  He was very proud of himself for researching good dessert options.  He was right - we loved these Chocolate Oatmeal Bars!  I made one batch for our Super Bowl party and they were really tasty so I thought I'd share the recipe with you today since several people requested the recipe on instagram.

Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

Recipe makes one 8x8 pan.  

They are rich so they go a long way when you cut them into small rectangles.

Ingredients:

Chocolate Filling:

1/2 can sweetened condensed milk

4 oz chocolate to melt (I used a mix of semi sweet chips and milk chocolate bits)

1/2 t vanilla

Oatmeal Bars:

1 1/2 stick room temp butter 

(I started w 1 1/4 stick of butter but had to add in a little more 

to get a crumbly/chunky oatmeal mixture)

1 1/2 c packed brown sugar

1 t vanilla

1/4 baking soda

sprinkle of salt

1 c flour

1 c quick cook oats

1/4 c m&ms (I mixed mini and regular sized plus a few chocolate chips)

Bake at 350 for 23-25 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Put the chocolate filling ingredients in a bowl and microwave until bubbly.  Stir together until everything smooth, let cool until it thickens.

Add the oatmeal bar ingredients into the mixer in the order they are listed and you'll end up a crumbly mixture.  Put 3/4 of the mixture into a greased 8x8 pan and press it flat leaving a little ridge around the edge.  Pour the chocolate filling on top.  Drop dabs of the remaining oatmeal bar mixture over the top of the chocolate filling.  Then save the M&Ms for last.  Sprinkle those on top and bake.

Let them cool a bit before slicing.  Make sure to cut the bars small because they're a rich treat.  They are good for several days so they'd make a perfect Valentine's Day treat for friends.  We are hoping to make some yummy desserts for our neighbors and friends this week.

I'm also thinking this would be a fun recipe to add peanut butter to, to make a peanut butter filling instead or to add reese's pieces to instead of m&ms.  The possibilities are endless with these oatmeal bars.

You'll have to let me know if you give them a try.

Hope you have a sweet Thursday!!

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