Reese’s Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Bars

Reese’s Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

Let’s take out some butter to soften up. Check that your pantry has plenty of flour, sugar and brown sugar. Oh, and we’re going to need peanut butter, peanut butter in several forms. Why? Because today is baking day.

Today we are going to make Peanut Butter Oatmeal bars, and we’re pulling out all the stops with these, incorporating peanut butter-flavored baking chips, peanut butter, and Reese’s Miniature candies. Total peanut butter heaven! I’ve been enthralled with all kinds of bar cookies lately, and these leave no room for disappointment. If you have Reese’s Cups left from Halloween this is a great way to use them up.

These bars are fabulous in every way; besides the wonderful taste, the centers are perfectly soft and chewy, and the Reese’s cup surprise in the middle makes them even more drool-worthy. It takes very little time to whip these up, but everyone who tastes them will want the recipe. To make sure the Reese’s are nicely distributed I put down a layer of about half the dough in the bottom of the baking dish and then sprinkled the chopped candy on top. Next I dolloped the remaining dough on top of all that, making a kind of peanut butter oatmeal cookie sandwich with a Reese’s filling. Turned out to be a great way to do it, as every bite gives you all that yumminess combined.

These will bake up beautifully and cut nicely also. I cut mine into 16 bars for the photos here, but you may want to cut them diagonally in half if you’re serving a large group, or double up on all the ingredients and bake in a 13″ x 9″ pan for a larger batch. Be sure to treat yourself to a whole bar… you deserve it. I know I did! 🙂

REESE’S PEANUT BUTTER OATMEAL COOKIE BARS

Yield: Makes 16 bars

Ingredients:

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup peanut butter-flavored baking chips
1 cup Reese’s miniatures, chopped or Reese’s minis

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350*F. Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Cream butter and brown sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Add peanut butter and continue mixing.

3. Add egg, mix in well, then add vanilla.

4. Combine flour, oats, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir in well.

5. Stir in the peanut butter chips.

6. Spread 2/3 of the dough on the bottom of the pan. Top with chopped Reese’s miniatures. Dollop the remaining dough on top by the teaspoon. It doesn’t have to completely cover all the Reese’s.