Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The ultimate oatmeal fudge bars

                                       

On my daily blog crawl yesterday I noticed an oatmeal frenzy has hit the globe, from the States to Europe to New Zealand. I must have been hit without noticing, because on Friday I was on a quest to find rolled oats, not as easy a task as I though it would be. After searching a couple of neighborhood supermarkets, I finally came across them at our small local Asian store, of all places.




Once again, I was inspired by a recipe posted by a fellow food blogger, Ellen from Like Mothers Like Daughters.

WARNING: this dessert, like my brownie recipe, must be made ONLY for get-togethers, picnics, parties, brunches & BBQs, in other words for large congregations, so that you are sure you will not be taking home leftovers. It is so calorie-laden yet delicious, you absolutely DO NOT want it lying around your kitchen for hours days tempting you at every turn.


Stock up on ample amounts of sugar, chocolate, butter and condensed milk and get to work!







Ingredients
1 cup softened butter + 1 tbsp butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 15 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease a baking pan (as per instructions a 9×13 inch pan; I am not sure that is the exact size I used, but they turned out fine).
Beat together butter and both sugars until fluffy and add eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Add vanilla at this point (I omitted this step as I did not have any).
In a separate bowl whisk together oats, flour, baking soda, 1 tsp salt and cinnamon. Add to the butter mixture and beat until just combined, making sure there are no flour lumps in the dough. Set aside.
In a small sauce pan combine chocolate chips (I chopped up some semi sweet and a little dark chocolate), condensed milk, butter, 1tsp salt and vanilla (again, I left out the vanilla). Turn to medium-low heat and stir until completely melted and creamy. Divide the dough into two portions, with one portion slightly larger than the other. Use the latter as your bottom crust, pressing it into your greased pan. Then pour fudge mixture on top of unbaked crust. Avoid pouring near the edges or have your crust go up the sides (that is what I did!) to avoid the fudge from touching the pan.
Flatten pieces of dough with your hands and place them on top of the fudge. Leave a few windows on top so you can see the fudge underneath. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the dough turns golden brown. Cool completely before cutting. See tips below.




A personal note: as much as I find a pinch of salt irresistible and necessary in desserts, I thought the fudge was a touch salty. I asked a few people what they thought and it didn't seem to bother them, but maybe they were just being polite. I am a salt girl, really, so you may want to go easy and taste before adding in the whole tsp. Then again, I skipped the vanilla step, so that may have made the difference.





I know it will be really difficult to wait the hour or so before cutting this into bars. Here is a handy tip for things to do while letting this cool.


14 comments:

  1. Ok, these look AMAZING! I like your advice - only for large gatherings! LOL!

    Funny about finding the oats at your Asian market!! I too have noticed oats as a popular ingredient in many blogs these days!

    I just responded to your comment on my blog and added yours to my reading list. Thanks!

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  2. Wow, these look so good, I'm tempted to lick the screen LOL.
    *kisses* HH

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  3. These bars look and sound amazing!
    I'm going to try them but make a little skinnier by substituting with reduced-fat butter and fat-free sweetened condensed milk. Can't wait to try them. Thanks for sharing...

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  4. DW&D - Thanks for adding me to your blog roll and for the tip on canned crab meat. Loved that chowder
    HH - that would certainly be a great way to taste food minus the calories...hehe. Love your posts about NY, can't wait to get there now!
    Nancy - that is probably a good idea, so you can make them just for yourself without worrying about wolfing down the whole tray!

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  5. I'm SO glad you liked them. I brought mine into the office for a bday party...since then, there's been lots of hinting that I should make them again, and I'm a little too tempted...yummmm. :)

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  6. Those look amazing!! Can't believe I'm on a diet...l may have to make these for the husband and, you know, have just a teeny taste... ;-)
    www.moomser.com

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  7. look really ultimate! Must try making this fudge bars! Like the picture of your kid licking the bowl...so cute :D

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  8. We tried this very bar and it was delicious, the salt was perfect... but most of all this little sweetie saved us on a Monday morning! Thanks for sharing your experiments!!
    Ile & Nadia

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  9. Ellen - Liked is an understatement!
    Moomser - Go on, you can have some for breakfast...the calories will burn off. As you can see from the comment below, I brought some to the office too. It improved our Monday greatly.
    Zoe - my daughter gets very excited about baking but does not often always like the things we make. Let me just say she ate half of these (over many days, I promise). Try them on your kids!
    Ile&Nadia - Let me know what else I can bake for other Monday mornings!

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  10. hehe I do love a recipe that requires a sharing warning! Only the best food requires this! :P

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  11. I'm totally on the oats bandwagon right now! And these fudge bars look waaaaay to dangerous to be sitting in a house for two! But I have a feeling even with just the two of us... they won't last long!

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  12. Lorraine - I agree hehe
    Peggy - I warned you!!

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  13. These looks so yummy and love that it's dense and filled with chocolate.

    Thanks for the warning to only make these for parties and such,or I can make a smaller amount and half the batch right?

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