Oatmeal Cookie Bars

Oh, thank goodness, it's not my tastebuds being wonky!

It's yet another winning recipe from Baking Bites. Seriously, I don't think any recipe that I've made from there has ever turned out bad. And I still have two or three on my 'to make' list.

The only thing I changed from the original recipe was omitting the raisins, subbing with chocolate and peanut butter chips. Dave is very much one of those "get those raisins away from my oatmeal cookies" kind of guys, so I knew the additon of pb chips would definitely be for the win. ;)

LIke Nicole mentioned, they are reminiscent of a blondie, but still retain their oatmeal cookie taste. And I really, really enjoyed the fact that it's all done in one bowl. Baking with a headache is always risky business, but far less so when there's not much to clean up afterwards!



Ingredients:
1 cup flour
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
½ cup butter, melted and cooled
2 cups quick cooking oats
1½ cups chocolate and peanut butter chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8x8-inch baking pan.

Whisk together flour, sugars, baking soda, salt, and spices in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center, then add the vanilla, egg, and melted butter, beating until smooth. Stir in oats and baking chips. Spread into prepared pan.

Bake at 350F for 22-26 minutes, or until lightly golden on top. Let cool completely before cutting into bars. Makes 16-20 bars.

Spiced Oatmeal Jam Bars

This worked out amazingly well, both in the time-wise sense and the "needing to use things up before moving"-sense. Because we're now 4 days out from moving and only my "vital" baking things aren't packed.

Time-wise, this works because Rachel of Coconut and Lime, one of my fave blogs, is holding a Blogiversary Contest. It's quite simple - make a recipe she's posted at some point, blog about it, and send the link. Good deal. Timing never works out so well for me. Seriously. Timing and gravity often seem to have vendettas against me.

But, yes, this worked very well. Super easy to put together and it leaves the flavor options open. I used two kinds of jam - huckleberry jam from Ashland, OR, and Ikea's Queen's Blend Jam (it's a strawberry/blueberry mix and simply DIVINE); one on each side. The bars are very reminiscent of the jamwiches I made a while back. (Which I can't seem to find on here; did I ever post them?) They also work really well re-heated as a breakfast treat, too. :)



Ingredients:
2 cups oatmeal
1-3/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. cloves
½ tsp. allspice
¼ tsp. nutmeg
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
3/4 cup jam

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F. Grease an 8-inch baking dish.

Mix together the oatmeal, flour, baking soda, and spices; set aside.

Cream butter and sugar. Gradually add dry ingredients. Remove 2 cups of batter and press onto the bottom of prepared pan. Spread jam over dough. Crumble remaining pieces of dough onto of the jam.

Bake at 400F for 22-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool in pan on wire rack, then cut into bars.

Oatmeal Cookie Bars

Despite the date of posting, I made this on Monday along with the cupcakes. But time has that funny way of working against me. (Seriously, gravity and time totally have vendettas against me.) I really wanted something that was simple to put together and would use up some of the many bags of baking chips that are currently in residence here.

I had saved the recipe from Cookie Madness a few months ago and finally got around to making it. My goal was somewhat reached: I used up two of the half-bags of chips that were floating around. Still have at least ten more that I would like to use before moving in a month. Oy!

I added some toffee chips to the dough, as well as some chocolate chips to sweeten it up a bit more. On the top, after spreading the chocolate, I sprinkled the remainder of the semi-sweet chips, some Guittard white chips, and some more toffee. Dave ate four of them when he got home from work, when they were still ooey-gooey-melty. Works for me. :)

(No picture as they didn't hold up well when cut and lifted. It's okay. Think of it as a sacrifice to the baking gods) ;)

Ingredients:
½ cup flour
½ cup oats
½ cup butter
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
1 egg

1 Tbsp. butter
½ cup morsels

Morsels for sprinkling on top

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8x8-inch baking pan.

Whisk together flour and oats; set aside.

Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add egg. Add flour mixture. Spread into prepared pan.

Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Melt butter and morsels in microwave, then pour over cookie base. Let cool for a few minutes before sprinkling morsels on the top.

Cinnamon Cheesecake Bars (with Oatmeal Cookie Crust)

She's ba-ack! :)

Life is back to normal. Or at least as normal we get around here. We had a nice visit up to Oregon. We even had more snow than we did through the Grapevine down in the LA area. There were some steady flurries through the Mt. Shasta area, which was fun. And I stepped in snow for the first time in five years. (Yeah, it's no big deal to some, but it's been a while for me!) We ate some very yummy breakfast in Ashland at Morning Glory, whose decor and general feel was very inspiring. Their cranberry/walnut french toast was delicious. :)

Anyways, this totally wasn't what I planned on making today. But as I was walking back from the library, I saw the local UPS driver, and that got me thinking. (Background: Used to work in receiving, got to know John, and even though I'm not in receiving anymore, I still live on the route) Long story short, he owes me some oatmeal cookies. Which led to "Could I do a cheesecake bar with an oatmeal cookie crust?"

The Quaker Oats website was my friend today. I found both the crust recipe and a cheesecake recipe that I was able to alter to my liking. The crust isn't as moist as I'd like it to be, but other than that, it's alright. I'm very glad I went with just the half tablespoon of cinnamon extract (found it at Sur La Table) instead of a full tablespoon, otherwise it'd would've been WAAAAY too much cinnamon. Even I have my limits! ;)



Ingredients:
1½ cups oats
1 cup flour
½ cup brown sugar
½ tsp. baking soda
1 cup butter, melted

3 pkg. cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
½ Tbsp. cinnamon extract
¼ tsp. salt
3 eggs
8 oz. sour cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 13x9-inch pan.

Combine oats, flour, brown sugar, and baking soda. Add butter, using a pastry blender or forks to combine. Press onto bottom of pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon extract, and salt, until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until combined. Add sour cream. Pour over crust.

Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes, or until center is set. Let cool completely on wire rack. Cut once cool.

Oatmeal Muffins

It's just another manic muffin...

Oops. So I'm probably not supposed to be baking. It's late (for me), I rarely ever bake at night, and, oh yeah, I'm recovering from the laparascopic surgery that I had last Friday (yes, the 13th). But after watching Grey's Anatomy, I was feeling restless, and all of a sudden I knew: muffins would make everything better. Don't know how, but I just knew, and I'm really hoping that the pain that's in my belly right now is worth it. :D

taken from The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
1½ cups milk
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. cinnamon (I upped it to ½)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 tsp. vanilla

(I also added in a handful of dried cranberries and maybe a quarter cup of raisins?)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F. Line 12-16 muffin tins with paper liners.

In a medium sized bowl, mix the oats and the milk; set aside for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, making a well in the center. Stir in the liquid ingredients and the oatmeal mixture until just combined, being careful not to overmix. Batter may be lumpy. Fill muffin cups about three-quarters full.

Bake at 400F for 16-18 minutes, until lightly golden or a cake tester inserted near center comes out with moist crumbs attached. Do not overbake.

Raisinet Oatmeal Bars

Funny, on Very Best Baking, they tout this as a 'healthier' alternative. I know oatmeal is good for you, good for lowering cholestrol, etc., but somehow it doesn't strike me as the healthiest snack in the world. *shrug* I did cut the sugar back a bit, as the original seemed to be awfully much.

Ingredients:
1½ cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1½ tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 package (12-oz.) Raisinets
1-3/4 cups quick or old-fashioned oats, divided

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 13x9-inch baking pan.

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl. Beat sugar, butter and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Beat in egg; gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in Raisinets and 1½ cups oats. Spread into prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with remaining oats.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars