Peanut Butter Obsession

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars

Today we made oatmeal chocolate chip peanut butter bars. That's certainly a mouthful, but these bars sure did not disappoint. We wanted to find another "healthy" way to utilize peanut butter in a recipe, and these bars were the answer. These bars have oats, whole-wheat flour, and applesauce (instead of butter) to make them wholesome and delicious! Feel free to add raisins or nuts to make these bars even more delicious. Of course, we couldn't resist adding a chocolate-peanut butter drizzle to top these off. Hope you enjoy!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars

Yields 16 servings

Cooks for approximately 10 minutes

Ingredients

1/4 cup applesauce

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 pinch of salt

1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons whole-wheat flour

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats

1/4 cup milk

Chocolate peanut butter drizzle

1-2 tablespoon chocolate chips

1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 350F and lightly grease a 9x9 pan.

2) Mix together the peanut butter, vanilla extract, and applesauce.

3) In a separate bowl, mix together the baking soda, salt, flour, and sugar. When combined. Add the chocolate chips.

4) Add the dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture. While mixing, add the milk and then the oats. Continue to mix until batter comes together and the oats are evenly distributed.

5) Put the mixture into the pan and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges become golden brown.

6) Cool the bars for 10-12 minutes.

7) After cooling the bars, for the chocolate peanut butter drizzle, combine the chocolate and peanut butter in a small shallow bowl. Warm the mixture until it becomes thin or until the chocolate melts completely (about 1 minute in the microwave).
8) Using a fork, drizzle the sauce on top of the bars.