These oatmeal fudge bars look delicious but honestly, they just didn't do it for me. They were just so so. The surprising thing is, these won the grand prize in a bar cookie contest for Cook's Country magazine. I made a double recipe and baken them in a 13x9 inch pan. Below are some notes about the recipe taken from the magazine.
A chewy crust, dense filling, and crunchy topping give these bar cookies a nice contrast of textures. Our tasters liked this recipe sent in from Barb Schaecher of Kansas City, Mo. so much, they awarded it the grand prize in our bar cookies recipe contest.
Test Kitchen Discoveries
•Using instant coffee here deepens the chocolate flavor without calling attention to itself.
•If you’d like a fudgier center, decrease the baking time.
•The brown sugar needs to be firmly packed into the measuring cup for an accurate measure. Fill the correct dry measure with the brown sugar and use the next smallest cup to pack it.
•Spray the baking pan with cooking spray and line with aluminum foil, allowing excess to overhang pan edges. Spray foil with cooking spray—once cookies have been baked and cooled, use the foil overhang to easily lift the bars from the pan.
Oatmeal Fudge Bars
Makes 36 bars
Crust and Topping:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly
Filling:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules or espresso powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
4 tablespoons unsalted butter , chopped
3 large eggs
1. For the crust: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare 9 by 9-inch baking pan (see note below). Whisk flour, oatmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl. Stir in butter until combined. Set 11/4 cups oatmeal mixture aside. Press remaining oatmeal mixture firmly into prepared pan. Bake until light golden brown, about 8 minutes. Cool completely.
2. For the filling: Whisk flour, sugar, instant coffee, and salt in bowl. Melt chocolate and butter in large bowl; whisk in eggs, then stir in flour mixture. Pour filling over cooled crust and sprinkle with reserved oatmeal mixture.
3. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out with few crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool to room temperature, at least 1 hour. Cut into 1 1/2-inch squares.
Note: For all bar cookies, line baking pan with aluminum foil, allowing excess to overhang pan edges. Spray foil with cooking spray. When bar cookies are cooled, use foil overhang to lift bars from pan. All bar cookies can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.
2 comments:
These look so good and I wish I had some today on this snowy day!
I just made these today, and as always, Cook's Country is putting out only reliable and delicious recipes! We thought that these were great. I did sort of underbake the brownie very slightly, and after they set up for 1-2 hours they were fully baked but mmmmm chewy. I won't personally make them again, but that's because I'm such an avid baker that they have to be in my top 10% to repeat. For me, I just think that the brownie covers up most of the streusel taste, and when I could taste it (it was delicious!), I still prefer it with fruit flavors or coffee cake anyways. The latter is probably just the thing for me - we all have our own favorite dessert combinations that call to use the loudest! My husband also pronounced them "great" but not a repeat. But for anyone who likes the idea of chocolate and streusel, this is a really delicious recipe!!! The brownie itself is fantastic, the streusel is good, and it's a unique combination. I'm glad that I tried them :)
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