Friday, December 3, 2010

Festive Oat and Candy Cookie Bars


Week 10 already? We're really flying. I just can't believe Christmas is right around the corner. Speaking of Christmas, I'll be having a great giveaway starting tomorrow for Orglamix makeup. It would make a great gift for someone or, if you want to gift yourself with it, be my guest (I'd do the same).

Thank you also for all your congratulations last week. I felt so loved.

For my pick this week, I made these Festive Oat and Candy Cookie Bars.


After seeing them at Louanne's Kitchen, I just couldn't resist. I'm definitely glad I gave in to the temptation because these bars were everything she said they would be. They were gooey and chocolatey and yummy to the very last bite. Like Louanne, I made these with M&Ms because that's what I had on hand. I also like how the M&Ms give the bars a really festive look for the holidays. But feel free to use other types of candies too if that's what you have in your pantry. According to Louanne, Snickers, Almond Joy, and Twix are all heavenly as well.

One word to the wise - she recommends lining the pan with parchment paper. So, what's wrong with the picture below?


Yup, I thought I could get away with simply greasing the pan. I realized what a mistake that was later on when I had to practically chisel my bars out of it. Lesson learned.

Festive Oat and Candy Cookie Bars (Louanne's Kitchen)

2 cups oats
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped (I omitted these)
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups M&Ms, divided
1 14-oz can condensed milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter or spray a 13x9 pan, then line with parchment paper, so that paper extends over long-side of pan; set aside.

Mix oats, flour, pecans, brown sugar, baking soda and salt together. With the mixer on low, slowly drizzle melted butter into oat mixture; mix until crumbly.

Remove 2 cups of mixture and pat remaining mixture into prepared pan. Bake crust for 10 minutes, then remove and allow to cool; lower oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Melt 1 cup of the M&M's in the microwave for about 60-90 seconds; remove and combine with condensed milk, stirring well. Pour over crust and set aside. Combine reserved crumb mixture with reserved 1/2 cup of M&M's; sprinkle over M&;M and condensed milk mixture. Bake for 28-30 minutes at 350 degrees. Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.

Note: I'd definitely recommend chilling these bars overnight in the fridge before cutting them. If not, they'll be a little too gooey and won't hold their bar shape very well.

This recipe is linked to:
Prairie Story Recipe Swap Thursday
Friday Potluck
Friday Favorites
Foodie Fridays
Feature Yourself Fridays
Homemade Holidays Recipe Swap
Saturday's Party

Week 10 Twelve Weeks of Christmas:

34 comments:

  1. Oooh Lisa! Don't these look good? Almost healthy too, aren't they, with the oats and nuts! Love these!

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  2. huuuummmmmmmmmmmmm
    Que delícia Lisa!
    Amei suas barrinhas! São bem festivas e parecem muito gostosas!!!
    Com certeza vou fazer!
    ;)

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  3. Looks so delicious! Made so colorful by the chocolates on the top!

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  4. So glad you liked them, Lisa! And,I don't mind at all, in fact, I'm flattered you used my recipe.

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  5. My itty bitty walked up to me while I was looking at the photo and I had to minimize the screen before he could see the M&Ms or else he would have been asking to eat them for breakfast. I'll have to give this a try and surprise him with a dessert instead. Yummy!

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  6. Wow, these look delicious! I love that they're somewhat healthy with a touch of sweetness (and chocolate) and color!

    Sues

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  7. Hi Lisa,
    I just love those Oat and Candy Bars. Thank you for sharing and hosting. You have a great week end.

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  8. These do look great, Lisa! I love bars and these foot the bill! I will rememeber not to skip the parchment:)

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  9. Bookmarked! These sound perfect! Oat cookies/bars are my absolute favorite. :)

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  10. Those do look great, Lisa. I love bar cookies, perfect for cutting in to smaller sizes for cookie trays! Or big ones, if you want to just bag up a few to give away.

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  11. OOOOHHH, these look too nummy. Cookies and fresh baked breads are definitely my weakness. Have you been able to save any of your cookies? We haven't they are gone by the next day! It is fun as I usually dip more chocolates than bake cookies but the party has given me the excuse. We may not have any for Christmas but we sure are enjoying them.

    The cookies I made are so easy that you will die once you make them. They are also very therapeutic to decorate and so easy we had 7 girls, age 16 over and we taught them and they did a great job. Try it.

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  12. These really look good. My kids would love them. Thanks for the tip about the parchment paper. I probably would have greased the pan too.

    I cannot believe it is almost Christmas. I have hardly any shopping done.

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  13. Mmmm...those look great! I agree -- my kids would love them with the M&M candies on them.

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  14. What a yummy treat. You are right, they do look festive, but I NEED to have an M&M combined with Twix version. Right now. Yummy!

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  15. i am coming with a chisel to get a piece of those! THey look amazing, i love baking with oats!

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  16. Lisa - you had me at candy! I love holiday treats! Thanks so much for linking up with Friday Potluck again this week. :)

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  17. Oh goodness, these have everything I love in them. I'll have to try these too!

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  18. Delicious looking bars. Yeah, parchment paper is pretty useful, isn't it?

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  19. Love the sound of these! I would probably use red and green M&M's!

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  20. Those looks so good! The M&m's probably make them taste reallyy good(:

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  21. These look yummy and as you say, festive. What a great holiday treat!

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  22. I LOVE bar cookies with a crumb topping like these--and I imagine the addition of toasted pecans would be awesome. Thanks for sharing such a great recipe :)

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  23. oh my goodness!!! LOVE THESE!!! Definitely think that I will need to try them out!

    xo

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  24. yum! The m&ms make these look so festive and fun!

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  25. These look so cute and Christmasy! :)

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  26. I was looking at those on Louanne's blog too! Okay...now my turn to make them :)

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  27. Yum. These look delicious. Now I am really hungry.

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  28. oMG, they look delicious.. thanks for sharing the recipe, and thanks for the invite of your giveaway, I'm working on my post... thanks again.

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  29. How scrumptious! What a great Christmas treat!

    Thanks for linking up for Friday Favorites last week. Hope to see you again this week. Also, I'd like to invite you to come by next Thursday for my Holly Bloggy Christmas Recipe Party!

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