Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars



This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was selected by Lillian of Confectiona’s Realm. She picked the Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars, which are just my kind of cookie: rich, multi-layered, and decadent! These would be the sort of thing that I would choose! To see the complete recipe, visit Lillian’s blog. This is a good one so you’ll certainly want to get the recipe.

This cookie starts with an oat, brown sugar, and peanut base. You use half of that for the base of the cookie and the other half for the top. In between is a layer of chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, peanuts and raisins. The raisins are a bit different, and I used dried cranberries instead. They are a very substantial cookie, and the pan is really heavy when you get everything together.

There are a little messy to assemble, but they are worth it! After you take them out of the oven it is critical that you let them cool completely. I let them cool for about 3 hours and they were still too soft. I cut the pan into 8 big pieces, removed them from the pan and then stuck them in the refrigerator for a couple hours. They were easy to cut at that point. So I recommend putting the bars in the refrigerator before attempting to cut these.

I like these a lot, but I’m not surprised since they are exactly the kind of cookie that I like making. I’m not 100% sold on the raisins/dried cranberries in the middle layer. They add an unexpected texture to the mix. I had thought about substituting something else, but I couldn’t think of anything to add that wasn’t already there! These make a lot of cookies since I cut them small, so I am sending the leftovers to work with my husband. I hope they like them as much as I did.

Recipe from Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, pages 114 and 115

8 comments:

chocolatechic said...

I didn't read the part about cooling...and cut them about an hour after coming out of the oven...oopsie poopsie.

I didn't stick mine in the fridge, but I must say they were best when just an hour out of the oven.

Anonymous said...

I was with you about what to put in the chocolate layer and I ended up leaving both the raisins and peanuts out and adding pecans to the chocolate part- worked out well. Your bars look delicious!

Megan said...

I left my chocolate filling plain, and that was probably a mistake. The nuts and fruit most likely cut the sweetness.

Flourchild said...

I let mine cool for 45 min. and they were fine! Your bars look great!

Lillian said...

I just left out the raisins -- I don't need any fruit messing up my chocolate. I'm glad you liked them. Thanks for baking with me this week!

Susan said...

I missed the part about cooling before cutting...got them cut but it took two different kinds of knives! Yours look perfect.

Amy of Sing For Your Supper said...

They look great!

-Amy
www.singforyoursupperblog.com

Pat said...

I was one of the lucky ones to sample these after you sent them to work with your husband. Everyone loved them. Thanks for sharing with us in A110.-Pat