SECRET RECIPE CLUB: OATMEAL FUDGE BARS

Posted in Desserts, Sweets, Secret Recipe Club by

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Mondays keep coming, rushing over me, but the toughest day in the week is made brighter when it’s…. Reveal Day of The Secret Recipe Club!  This club is getting more and more interesting, as new food bloggers join in. I heard the waiting list is huge, so if you have any interest in this type of group event, get yourself in line!    This month I was paired with the blog Everyday Insanity. The name describes my days quite closely… 😉  I also love her tag line: Tackling life, one brownie recipe at a time!  Everyday Insanity is hosted by Cindy, and her choice of name for the blog might be due to her having 6 kids and 14 grandchildren!  My life all of a sudden feels like a walk at the park. Seriously.  Her blog is full of tasty recipes, not only sweets.  I was very tempted to make her Thai Coconut Chicken soup, but these bars won me over. Plus, the timing was perfect: I brought them to our department on Valentine’s Day!

OATMEAL FUDGE BARS
(from Everyday Insanity)

1 cup quick-cooking oats
1+1/4 cup light brown sugar, divided
1 cup all-purpose flour, divided
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt + 1 pinch, divided
10 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
1 + 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 egg

Heat your oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8 inch square baker with aluminum foil, allowing excess to hang over the edges of the pan.  Grease foil; set pan aside.

Combine the oats, 1 cup of brown sugar, ¾ cup of flour, baking powder, baking soda, and a pinch of salt.  Stir together in a bowl to combine.  Melt 8 Tbsp butter and stir into the oat mixture until combined.  Reserve ¾ cup of the mixture for the topping.  Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture over the bottom of the prepared pan and press into an even layer.  Bake until light golden brown, about 12 minutes.  Cool completely, about 1 hour.

Combine the remaining ¼ cup flour, the remaining ¼ cup brown sugar, and the remaining  ¼ tsp salt in a bowl.  Set aside.

Melt the chocolate chips and the remaining 2 Tbsp butter in a large bowl, microwaving at 50% power in 30 second intervals, stirring after each.  Let cool slightly.  Add the egg and whisk until combined.  Use a rubber spatula to fold in the flour mixture, stirring until just combined.

Pour the chocolate filling over the cooled crust and sprinkle with the remaining oatmeal mixture.  Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 25-30 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.  Using the foil overhang, lift the bars from the pan and cut into squares.  Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

cutting
Comments:  Valentine’s Day this year fell on a Thursday, so I bravely decided to tackle this recipe the evening before. After work. After dinner. Not a smart move.  I completely overlooked the instruction to “reserve part of the mixture for the topping”, and of course got into full-blast panic mode when I noticed my mistake.  By then the base of the bar was already in the oven.   I rushed to make a little more topping, calculating proportions of all ingredients quickly in my mind, hoping for the best.  Probably due to my level of stress, the chocolate seized in the microwave, prompting me to throw one of those fits that brings Phil back into the kitchen, already holding a box of Kleenex.  To make a long story short, without him, there would be no bars.  Unbearable thought.

So, when you make these absolutely delicious bars, do yourself a favor and follow the recipe as written.  That way the base of your bar will the thinner, and the crumb topping will be lighter, as intended.

Cindy, it was wonderful to get to “meet” you through this baking adventure!  Thanks to you (and also to the imperturbable man I married), I could take a platter full of sweetness to work on the sweetest day of the year!

department

To see what others in my group prepared for Reveal Day, click on the funky little frog smiling at the end of the post. Do you want to know who got my blog and what she cook from it?   Jane, from The Healthy Beehive picked a favorite recipe of mine, check it out by clicking here

ONE  YEAR AGO: Cauliflower Steaks

TWO YEARS AGO: Soft Spot for Chevre

THREE YEARS AGO: Quick sun-dried Tomato Crostini



37 thoughts on “SECRET RECIPE CLUB: OATMEAL FUDGE BARS”

  1. There are just too many of these delicious dessert bars in the world and even the addition of oats can’t convince my burgeoning waistline that I should have just one more. 🙂 They ARE tasty looking though and I like them displayed on the simple wooden cutting board the best.

    Sending you a sympathetic hug on the late evening cooking ‘almost’ disaster though Phil’s support did the job of helping you recover wonderfully. I’ve had one of those in the early afternoon on a leisurely baking day so time isn’t the only factor. And stomped away to pout while my nephew finished the sugar cookies on my first ever attempt at making them.

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  8. Thanks Sally for the kind words about my blog–it usually is pretty insane here! I have a bad habit of not reading all the way thru the recipe before beginning–I feel your pain! Glad they worked out, they are yummy.
    I just read in your bio that you are from Sao Paulo Brazil. My oldest son spent 2 years in Sao Paulo on a mission for our church. My younger son went to Joao Pessoa on his mission. My youngest son was happy to receive his mission call to Texas. He worried about learning a new language!
    My boys are both fluent in Portuguese and Spanish–both assets in their jobs.
    Do try the Coconut Curry Soup, it is easy and delicious!.

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    • Cindy, what a great coincidence! So two of your sons are fluent in Portuguese? Maravilha, mande um super beijo a eles!

      I’ve never been to Joao Pessoa, but visited Recife and Salvador, also Belo Horizonte. Such a big country, I wish I had more opportunity to travel while living back home… now it’s much harder to “play tourist”

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  12. I just hate it when I do something like this, two weeks ago I made a sheet cake with baking powder instead of soda. I was lucky, it was edible, if only because it was in a large flat pan. Thank your Phil for his kindness.. because of him we get to see this recipe and learn about a new blogger. I’m still thinking about joining.. it’s not too much of a commitment?? xx

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    • AMazing! I would never imagine you going through baking problems! Oh, well – I feel a little better now, I am in great company… 😉

      Barbara, I’d love if you joined, especially if you would be in Group D. HOnestly, I think of all the blog events going around, this one is “doable”. Very flexible, since you pick the recipe you want to cook. If times are tough, go simple. Of course, your blog posts are much more involved and take longer to prepare than mine, so you have to judge if it’s something you want to add to your list of commitments.

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  13. One would never be able to tell that these delicious looking bars were headed for the trash bin, if not for the intercession of your trusty Phil. Yay! They look fantastic and I bet they taste every bit as good, Sally. 🙂

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  14. You just keep these bars away from me now y’hear? I’m heading to Jamaica in less than two weeks and I just know there ain’t room enough for me + these bars in my bikini! :). They look de.lish Sally!!

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    • Jamaica, bikini, and fudge bars. Tough combination, so I advise you to stick to the first two, and save the third for your return. In moderation, of course… in moderation 😉 Bikini season is never more than 9 months away….

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  19. What a treat!! These look so tasty. It would be hard for me to keep my hands out of the fudge layer when assembling! Great pictures!

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