Tuesday, January 19, 2010

TWD: Chocolate Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars

Well, with a title like that, who wouldn't want to make this?! It's almost health food what with the oatmeal and raisins and everything....

This is a bar recipe with two components that make three layers. It is very rich and pretty sweet. The good news is that a little goes a long way.

The base layer calls for a rather large quantities of the chosen ingredients. There's brown sugar, flour, oatmeal, butter, eggs, nuts, and some other stuff. The recipe calls for three cups of oatmeal alone. This is when I was grateful yet again for my KA stand mixer. It handled the job easily. The crust mixture is divided, and most of the mix is pressed into a 13 x 9 pan. The rest is set aside. The chocolate layer was pretty simple to make. I used a homemade double boiler (bowl over pan of simmering water) to melt chocolate, butter, and sweetened condensed milk (not to be confused with evaporated milk. I guess it's a common mistake because I see the warnings in almost every recipe that calls for one or the other.) You add chopped peanuts and raisins to that. I used a mix of almonds and peanuts because that's what I had. I did add the raisins, though other bakers were worried about the sweetness. The chocolate layer is spread over the base layer. The remaining crust mix is crumbled over the top. It didn't need a long bake, but it does require a long cool -- at least three hours.

See, Oatmeal! It's good for you!

Here's the whole pan.

This was my corner piece. It was excellent and chewy.

I cut mine while it was still at room temperature. It was easy to do. Much easier than when it was cold. We also ate it while it was still warm, though Dorie makes a case for eating it cold. I really liked it warm. I liked the contrast of the gooey chocolate and the crunchy top and base. Though, it was pretty darn good the next day right out of the fridge. It wasn't as sweet as I was expecting it to be. I wonder if I just used a different chocolate than some of the other bakers. It does make a lot, so half of my pan went into the freezer for later use. I could certainly see myself making this one again. I might play around with cappuccino chips to replace the raisins and using all almonds. Thank you Lillian of Confectiona's Realm for choosing this recipe. Go to her blog to see the recipe.

20 comments:

Sabrina said...

Those look wonderful! Great job!

Megan said...

Finally! Someone who liked it warm too! I thought it was too hard while cold - but I was definitely in the minority there.

chocolatechic said...

I cut mine while it was warm too, and then ate them warm...they were best that way.

Mary said...

I preferred them warm/room temperature too: maximum fudginess. I used bitterweet chocolate and no raisins/peanuts and I didn't find these too sweet at all. Not even at breakfast time!

Cakelaw said...

LOL - absolutely healthy! Glad you liked them - I did too.

Kayte said...

Looks really great...Matt is after me to make more of them again already with the same reasons you were giving...oatmeal, raisins, nuts, they are healthy! Yep, sure. I figured you would all love these...and next week is Chocolate, too!

Katrina said...

I totally agree about these being healthy for all the same reason! Oh wait, I left out the raisins. Dang, I'm screwed! ;)

Susan said...

I love corner pieces! :) Yours look great! I have kept mine on the kitchen counter so they are at room temperature, not cold.

Carol Peterman/TableFare said...

They look wonderful. I liked these because I found them to not be overly sweet as well. I did use a slightly dark chocolate rather than standard chips.

spike. said...

oatmeal totally makes it healthy! I think I'll have another one.

Hindy said...

I was relieved that it wasn't as sweet as I expected. That put them squarely in the health food group. Glad you enjoyed them too!
Love those corner pieces!

Bella Baker said...

Yours look great! I made a half recipe, thank goodness, since I live alone! I agree that these were better warm, or at least at room temp. When they are cold they are harder on the teeth and I certainly don't want to break a tooth on my baked goods!

Teanna said...

They look gorgeous!! I cut them while they were still cold - big mistake! I'm glad you loved them!

Flourchild said...

I loved these too. Your bars look so good and Im glad you liked them. I think baked goods taste better warm!

PheMom said...

Hahaha! That is how I felt about it too - there's oatmeal, it's good for me! :)

Anonymous said...

Oooh, cappuccino chips would be good! I was pleasantly surprised that these didn't seem as sweet as I had expected.

Mimi said...

I liked them warm too.
Mimi

Heather said...

Great job! This was a delicious treat.

betty geek said...

Ha! That is what I said! It's health food! :)

Yours look mighty darn good.

Liz said...

Ah yes, a health food. That explains why I should eat 3 pieces tonight, right? Riiiight. Looks awesome!