For your next holiday party: Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Bars

Recipe name: Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Bars
Source: Simply Tasty via Baking Blonde
Servings: 8
Cookbook date: November 4

Ingredients

1 cup butter (I used 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup yogurt and it turned out fine)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup peanut butter

Directions

Grease a 9×9 inch square pan.

Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla. Mix in the oats. Cook over low heat 2 to 3 minutes, or until ingredients are well blended.Press half of mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Reserve the remainder for topping.

Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips and peanut butter in a small heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently until smooth. Pour the chocolate mixture over the crust in the pan, and spread evenly with a knife or the back of a spoon.

Crumble the remaining oat mixture over the chocolate layer, pressing in gently.Cover, and refrigerate 2 to 3 hours or overnight. Bring to room temperature before cutting into bars.


Sorry that I don't have a picture for this one, but check it out on Simply Tasty if you want to see the finished product. I thought these were good, but Tim thought that they were outstanding. He says that this is his new favorite dessert item. As you can imagine, they are on the heavy side, so I don't imagine that I'll make them frequently, but Tim likes them so much that they may become a standard treat around the holidays.

My tip for making this recipe is to give the chocolate mixture time to cool in the pan before you spread the top oat mixture layer over it. I waited about 15 minutes before putting the top layer on, and I think that made things go more smoothly.