Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Get This Outa My House!

Sometimes, I just get where I want to bake something. I have no reason to bake and I don't have family nearby, so I'm not baking for my husband or children (or parents). But when the baking bug hits, sometimes you just have to do it! So, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to try a new recipe from Baking Blonde. For some reason, I think that recipes that use sweetened condensed milk are fun. So, when I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it...plus, it has peanut butter and oatmeal! I used crunchy peanut butter and LOVED the way the nuts felt and added to the flavor, it was really toasty tasting. Also, I ran out of oatmeal, so I added some wheat bran to cover for that. This also added to the nutty taste. These bars were REALLY good! That's why I had to "get this outa my house." I ended up taking the bars to a pediatric department picnic. They were all eaten except for one bar...good job everyone! Apparently, I have been deemed the cooking resident! I'll take it. :-)
Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Dream Bars adapted from Bakingblonde
1 cup melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups Quick Cooking oatmeal (NOT instant)
1/2 cup wheat bran
1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup peanut butter (calls for 1/2 cup but 1/3 is what I had)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2/3 cup peanut butter chips
2/3 cup Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9×13 pan with tin foil (or wax paper) and spray lighlty with PAM.

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together melted butter, sugar, soda, oatmeal, flour & salt until it’s crumbly (mine wasn't crumbly...maybe the lack of oatmeal had something to do with that). Set aside about 1 cup or a little more. Press the rest of the crust into prepared pan. Bake crust for 10 minutes.

While crust is cooking, in a small bowl, stir together the peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk. Once crust has baked, evenly pour and spread peanut butter filling over the baked crust. Be gentle so you don’t pull up the warm crust while you spread the filling. Evenly sprinkle the reserved crumbs on top of the peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk mixture. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove from oven and sprinkle the chips evenly over the top. Return to oven to bake for another 5-10 minutes or until topping is light golden brown and candy bars/chips are melting. Cool. Enjoy!

11 comments:

Pearl said...

oh yum!

Anonymous said...

Love the idea to use some wheat germ! Great way to make them 'healthy' haha!

Abby said...

They look great. I love ANYTHING with peanut butter and crunch!

Jaime said...

i would love to have those in my house!

Emily said...

Oh noooo what have you done? Now I have to make these! These blondies look incredible.

The JR said...

Okay, you just named off 3 of my favorite baking ingredients. This recipe is on my PC now. Will have to sneak it in, hope my Dr. doesn't beat me up too bad about it!

Ramona

grace said...

yep, i can tell just by the name that this is something that i would have to give away immediately lest i eat the whole batch myself. in one day. the pictures only reinforce that belief. :)

Unknown said...

Pearl - Thanks

BB - Yeah...healthy! That's the goal of any baking...add something to make it "healthy!"

Abby - Thanks. The peanut butter really helped the crunch. It actually took me a while to figure out what it was.

Jaime - I don't think they'd last long. :-)

Emily - Oh my...I don't know! You do need to try them...maybe you can come up with a fun variation.

JR - Oh, I know...the fun stuff is things the doctor says don't eat. But do not fear...though most doctors tell you not to eat it, they still do, too!

Grace- That's why I was so glad that I had some place to take them. The taste and texture was wonderful.

Bar said...

mmmmmmm looks good!

healthy ashley said...

Any kind of dessert bar like that is my weakness! YUM!!

Katrina said...

Delicious, Claire! I want to come to your picnics! ;)
Hey, I did finally find the big bag of those strawberry/peanut butter M&M's at Walmart and someone told me they've seen them at Target. Good luck.