Oatmeal Toffee Bars

The first time I saw these bars was on Megan’s Cookin’ and they were loaded with chocolate chips.  A week or so later they popped up on my radar again when April lightened them up.  After seeing them a second time I couldn’t resist making some, especially knowing that my oatmeal cookie lovin’ son, Jalen would be thrilled.  Cookies aren’t happen here so this is a win-win recipe. 

This is a super easy recipe that doesn’t require any advanced planning as there’s no butter to soften.   Besides my obvious change of leaving out the chocolate chips and subbing in toffee pieces I used all purpose flour instead of whole wheat.  These baked up perfectly in 17 minutes which was actually faster than it took me to clean up.

While very good on their own these bars were fantastic heated up with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. So good in fact, I might have eaten one just like that for breakfast.  Hey, it’s like oatmeal made with milk only not. :)

Oatmeal Toffee Bars (printable recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons skim milk (I used 2%)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (I used coarse sea salt)*
• 3 cups of old-fashioned oats (I ran out and used a packet of instant)
• 1 3/4 cups whole-wheat flour (I used all purpose)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I added one bag of Heath’s toffee pieces.)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut (I omitted)

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla, and salt. Beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until the sugars have dissolved.

In a separate bowl, combine old-fashioned oats, flour, baking soda, coconut, and chocolate chips. Stir until just combined. Add to liquid mixture and stir until combined.  The batter will be cookie dough thick.  Transfer it into a lightly greased 13×9 inch baking pan.  Once transferred I found it easiest to spread the batter into the corners with my dampened fingers.

Bake 15-20 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool until firm. Cut into squares and store tightly covered.

*Note:  If you’re a fan of salty sweet (Michelle!) I’d up the salt to maybe 3/4 tsp.  On my last square I sprinkled some coarse sea salt on top and it was delish!

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