Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Crumble Bars

Adapted from Cookies! A Cookie Lover’s Collection from Creative Publishing International

It’s been a crazy week at work … oh when isn’t it a crazy week? This is how I like it, though … always something new happening, always something to do. We have a BIG project coming up and on Thursday we had a 4-hour meeting scheduled. The meeting was over in “the other building” so inside I began to panic. … I was thinking “He won’t think to bring food … we gotta have food!” So I woke up that morning and quickly whipped up a batch of bars with all my favorite things inside, threw them in the oven and went to take a shower. I then ran to the store get milk while my son was helping out with getting my daughter out of bed and ready for school …

It was a little bit of a crazy morning … and honestly, it didn’t go all that well, but I did manage to get milk and the bars were a big hit at the meeting (and afterwards too) … I did manage to salvage one bar to bring home to photograph. I HAD to save at least one because I’ve already got people asking for the recipe … and I wouldn’t want to forget this one. It has so many of my favorite flavors in it!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Crumble Bars

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 45 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour
• Yield: 16 bars (or so) 1x

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Ingredients

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• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
• 1 very ripe banana, mashed well
• 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• About 2/3 cup (or so) high quality dark chocolate chips

For the top: 1/4 cup or so of coarsely chopped roasted, salted peanuts and 1 Tablespoon raw sugar

For the drizzle topping: 1/4 cup chocolate chips, melted

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter and brown sugar until totally creamy and well blended. Add the banana and vanilla and mix well.
3. Add the flour, oats, baking powder and salt and stir just until everything is mixed. Fold in the chocolate chips.
4. Spray a 9x9x2 inch baking pan with cooking spray and dump the batter in the pan. Smooth out the batter across the pan with a nonstick spatula, making the surface as flat as possible.
5. Sprinkle the top with coarsely chopped peanuts and raw sugar. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the top is a lovely golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (aside from the melty chocolate chips).
6. Now, melt a small bit of chocolate chips in a small bowl using the microwave for a minute. Stir. If not melted, microwave for another 30 seconds and stir again. Drizzle the melted chocolate chips over the top of the bars with a spoon. Set aside in a cool place until the chocolate sets.
7. Slice into bars with a sharp knife and enjoy!

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This recipe was shared at Foodie Friends Friday, Show & Tell Saturday, Weekend Potluck, Everyday Mom’s Meals, Manic Monday (SuperBowl Edition), Iron Chef Mom (Peanut Butter) and Katherine Martinelli’s Game Day Bloghop.