Chocolate Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars
After two days of bars without chocolate (!?!) it’s time to get some chocolate in here. Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours is one of my favorite cookbooks. The thing has some heft. It’s bigger than a sheet of paper and a couple inches thick. And it’s HEAVY! The pictures in it are beautiful and I love reading Dorie’s little stories before each recipe.
I told Hubby that I was thinking about these bars. I know the TWD group did them not too long ago, but instead of showing him a picture, I just told him about the ingredients in the bar. He just said “eh” when I told him they had chocolate, peanuts, raisins, and oats. I have to admit, I’m not a huge raisin fan myself, but I was definitely intrigued by the combination and decided to just go for it.
Boy am I glad I did! I think everyone who got to enjoy these gems was glad I didn’t just keep searching for another recipe after Hubby was less than enthusiastic about the ingredient list. The raisins give a nice chewiness and sweetness without overpowering the bars. The peanuts and oats give a nice contrast of textures. Overall this bar has it all. They’re not overly sweet and definitely hit the spot.
On top of all that, I’ve been totally digging bars with layers recently. I’m not quite sure why but I have been gravitating towards them. I’m sure you’ll see more layered bars in the future!
One Year Ago: Crockpot Pulled Pork
Two Years Ago: Lemon Curd Cookies
Check out my entire week of bars and brownies here.
Chocolate Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars
Yield: ~36
Ingredients:
For the oatmeal layer
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
For the chocolate layer
14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup moist, plump raisins
3/4 cup coarsely chopped peanuts, preferably salted
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper and place the pan on a baking sheet.
To make the oatmeal layer
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
Beat the butter on medium speed until it is soft and creamy. Add the brown sugar and beat for 2 minutes, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each one. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear. Still on low speed, or working by hand with a rubber spatula, stir in the oats and chopped peanuts.
Set aside 1 1/2 cups of the mixture, then turn the remaining dough into the buttered pan. Gently and evenly press the dough over the bottom of the pan. Set aside while you prepare the next layer.
To make the chocolate layer
Put the condensed milk, chocolate chips, butter, and salt in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir occasionally until the milk is warm and the chocolate and butter are melted. Remove the bowl from the pan of water and stir in the vanilla, raisins, and peanuts.
Pour the warm chocolate over the oatmeal crust, then scatter the remaining oatmeal mixture over the top.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and the chocolate layer is dull and starting to come away from the sides of the pan. Transfer the baking pan to a rack and cool for about 2 hours.
Using the parchment paper, pull the bars out of their pan and place on a rack. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before cutting.
Recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Yum that looks delicious and welcome back to my hometown! Cincinnati’s actually a great town that grows on you and has been evolving quite a bit in the time that you’ve been away. I suspect given your profession and work location history that we probably work for the same company as our day jobs ;).
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 8:30 am
Yes, Cincinnati has changed a LOT since we moved away in 2007.
I would suspect you’re right. There’s enough info to know where I work, especially if you work here too 😉 Going to go check out your blog now. I would love to meet some other Cincinnati area bloggers!
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 8:31 am
Ok I work for the *other* big company in town (just checked your About page).
Isn’t the KA ice cream attachment the best thing ever? I am always making ice cream, even in the wintertime, but I never thought of using canned coconut milk as the base. I’ll have to try this out soon!
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 11:37 am
Absolutely. I didn’t think I could love my KAM any more than I already did. The ice cream attachment proved that I can.
I have lots of cans of coconut milk laying around and I know they make a good ice cream! Adding this one to my list 🙂
I bought myself KA ice creamer maker for my birthday this summer and I adore it! I’ve been thinking about making non-dairy ice creams, but the recipes all sounded strange. It’s great to see a recipe from a trusted source. Can’t wait to try.
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 10:28 pm
Let me know what you think if you try it. I am going to be experimenting with different milks since I can’t have cow’s milk…
love coconut milk based ice creams!! this one looks fabulous, and good call throwing in those oreos 😉
beantownbaker — January 24th, 2013 @ 12:05 pm
It’s ALWAYS a good idea to throw oreos in 🙂
My brother’s favorite thing to get at Coldstone is chocolate oreo ice cream. Too bad I don’t have an ice cream maker, or I would definitely try this!
beantownbaker — January 29th, 2013 @ 7:51 am
I’ve been told you can make ice cream without an ice cream maker. I never tried it before I got mine though…
I just made your recipe and luckily I tasted it before I cooled it. The ratio of sugar to cocoa powder is off. You should use at least twice the amount of sugar to cocoa powder in order for it not to have a horribly bitter taste. After adding more sugar it had a nice sweet to chocolately balance. Thanks for the recipe, my daughter is lactose intolerant and she will enjoy it.
beantownbaker — January 31st, 2013 @ 2:03 pm
I am glad you were able to adjust this recipe to suit your needs. Hubby and I both enjoyed the sweetness level of this recipe. I’m sure different cocoa powders have different levels of sweetness. I plan to try this recipe without the cocoa powder to make vanilla ice cream too. We loved the creaminess of it!
This look yummy and chocolate ice cream is one of my favorite. Thanks for sharing the directions and ingredients.
I just opened a can of coconut milk and it looked extremely curdled. I shook it a lot but it was still completely curdled. Is that how coconut milk is supposed to be out of the can? Are there any brands that you specifically like to use?
beantownbaker — April 24th, 2013 @ 1:44 pm
Hm. It doesn’t usually look curdled, more just separated. Did you try shaking it up? I use Native Forest since that’s what they sell in my grocery store. It looks like this: http://www.amazon.com/Native-Forest-Organic-Classic-13-5-Ounce/dp/B001HTJ2BQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366829034&sr=8-1&keywords=coconut+milk
Oh how I wish I could try this.. I am currently gluten and dairy free.. However this being dairy free is is not gluten free with the oreo’s… Bummer!!
beantownbaker — October 23rd, 2013 @ 12:28 am
I’ve made this recipe again without the Oreos and it’s really good. Not quite as good as with the Oreos, but if you wanted to make it gluten free, just leave them out.
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