Today, Monday, I've spent in the kitchen. Not all of the day but a chunk. Making what started out as cookies for Paul but what ended up as:

Bex's Oatmeal Chippie Bars

I started with this:



I know... normally I don't use a mix - I've been baking for quite a few years now from scratch, but then a while back I got sick of making the cookies every 10 days or so. I asked Paul to pick up some cookie mixes at the food store a few months ago and he got a variety of them - oatmeal, chocolate chip, sugar cookies, etc., and since then I've only made a "from scratch" batch of cookies once, his favorites - Molasses Spice Cookies. All the rest of the time I've whipped up batches using these mixes, and I have to say, they have been great! Maybe not perfect in the way of purity, but for me, they've gotten the job done.

What I do is "spiff" them up with other ingredients.

So today's offering is my recipe for these lovelies that I call:

OATMEAL CHIPPIE BARS

Ingredients:
1 package of Betty Crocker Oatmeal Cookie Mix (as above)
2 eggs
1 stick softened butter, unsalted
2 TBSP water
1/3 cup original oats
1/3 cup self-rising flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter chips

Just put all that in a bowl and mix with a spatula until all incorporated.

Now, I was going to make cookies which I would normally scoop out using little ice cream scoops (I have 4 sizes), but today I thought I'd try making "bars" rather than individual cookies.

On a large sheet pan, lined with non-stick sheet or parchment paper (or you could spray it I guess), plop the mixture down onto the sheet and, with an oiled long spatula, spread out the mixture to the edges of the sheet pan. This took me the most time as the mixture would tend to separate and I wanted it all to be one large piece.

Bake at 375 F for 15 minutes. However, when I checked these at 15 minutes, they seemed a bit soft still. I pulled them out and scored them with the spatula into bar pieces and then shut the oven OFF and put them back in for another 7-10 minutes... just to firm up the insides a little more.

They came out just right!



I cut them up a little small because they are thick. Now that I'm thinking about it, I have some Hershey's spreadable chocolate/hazelnut spread and wouldn't these go great with a little of that spread on the top?

Or maybe a little baker's sugar dusted on top.

But they are fine the way they are...



I toyed with adding chocolate chips, but Paul is not a chocoholic like the rest of us, so I really made these with the white chocolate chips and peanut butter chips to please him. (Actually, I've read that the "white chocolate chips" aren't really "chocolate" but vanilla chips). Whatever... these are really good.



You can have one now and I'll just bet they won't go immediately to your derriere, the way they surely will to mine!

Cheers,

Bex-the-baker

& helper






It's in every one of us to be wise;
Find your heart, open up both your eyes.
We can all know every thing without ever knowing why.
It's in every one of us, by and bye.

~ John Denver & The Muppets ~


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