Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Oat Bars

Did you guys try my Carmelitas?

If you did, and you became *obsessed* with them like I did- you're in for a treat! These chocolate-peanut butter bites are basically a modification of their caramel counterparts. I feel like the Carmelita recipe is such a solid recipe that you can sub out the caramel and chocolate for other combinations, and win big.

If you remember back to the carmelita's, those were made with the oat base, chocolate chips, and a melted caramel sauce. This way-totally-more chocolate version is made with the oat base, peanut butter chips, and a melted chocolate sauce. 

Yum. Times a million.

But just think! You could make these with chocolate chips and a melted peanut butter sauce. I have other ideas as well-

Cinnamon chips with toffee sauce.

Chocolate chips with marshmallow sauce.

Mint chocolate chips with a chocolate sauce.

Peanut butter chips with a fruity sauce. As in, Peanut Butter and Jelly Oat Bars. 

Hold the press. That's a really good idea. Forget I suggested it, new idea for the blog!! Just think of that suggestion like this-

Peanut Butter and Jelly Oat Bars.

Moving on :)

There is one large difference between these and the Carmelitas. The Carmelitas are rich. That's Rich with a capital R. Don't get me wrong. They are awesome and you will love them, but you'll like only be eating one at a time. I used semi-sweet chocolate to make the chocolate sauce, and it definitely toned down the richness factor. Both me and the hubby gave this variation a thumbs up, big time. 

I'm a big fan of oat bars. You could almost put anything between two layers of oat, and Jessica would be in seventh heaven. 

I just have to share one thing before I take off. Yesterday, the hubby and I called time-of-death on "The Great Potato Experiment of 2015". The plants have been dying for about a month, but the regrowth remained green. They never flowered, but they weren't as dead as I would have preferred. The hubby and I shared a look last night as we checked them out, and then all of the sudden, we were both elbow deep in dirt, searching for potatoes. And potatoes we found! I can't believe it. I started out with one store-bought organic red potato that had sprouted. I chopped it into thirds and buried those pieces. From one potato, we got at least enough potatoes for a potato dish. And you are not even supposed to be able to grow new potatoes from store potatoes! A semi-successful experiment, I'm calling this. 

See? Potatoes! Never mind the hubby thinks one of them is very inappropriately shaped. Haha :)

Next year, we are making a raised bed just for potatoes. And I'm going to start from seed potatoes. We are officially potato farmers.

On that note, Happy Wednesday everyone!

Ingredients (makes 12 bars):

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

6 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate, roughly chopped

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 cup peanut butter chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Line a 9 x 9 pan with aluminum foil. I highly recommend lining the pan, it makes it 100 % easier to get the bars out of the pan. Set aside.

2. Melt the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and vanilla, whisk until smooth. Add flour, oats, baking soda, and salt. Mix until combined, mixture will be thick. 

3. Add half of oat mixture to the pan. Press it down to make an even layer. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, set aside to cool slightly.

4. Make the chocolate sauce- in a double broiler, combine chocolate and cream. Continue to heat until chocolate is melted and sauce is combined. Pour the chocolate sauce evenly over the baked crust. Sprinkle peanut butter chips evenly over chocolate. Drop remainder of oat mixture evenly over peanut butter chips.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the edges are slightly browned and the center is starting to bubble.

6. Cool on the counter for 2 hours. After 2 hours, place bars in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight. After chilling, cut into 12 bars and serve immediately. Store in an airtight container up to 1 week.

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from Averie Cooks.

If you liked this recipe, you may enjoy these-

Carmelitas

Salty Peanut Butter Cup Bark

Oreo-Reese's Peanut Butter Truffles

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