Oatmeal Scotchie Brownie Bars

I had pinned this recipe as soon as I saw it, way back in late spring. For me this type of cookie: a substantial bar cookie with chocolate and butterscotch, screams fall to me. I went looking for a bar cookie to make this week because I was short on time and I needed to bake them one night and cut them the next day. I guess I pin too many recipes as I had to scroll through a lot of recipes before I found these again. These would be perfect! And by some miracle I had all of the ingredients on hand.

This recipe uses homemade brownie mix, but you could also use any boxed mix that makes a 9” x 13” pan of brownies. I sometimes keep a couple of brownie and cake mixes on hand, but I haven’t restocked in a while so I opted to make the homemade mix, which was really simple. I had more mix than I needed for these, but there’s just about enough mix left to make a small pan of brownies. You can check out the options on the Crazy for Crust site.

These are fairly quick to put together, even though if you look at the list of ingredients they seem a bit involved. Spreading the oatmeal scotchie dough over the brownie batter is a little tricky. I just take pieces of dough, flatten a bit and the fit it over the brownie batter kind of like a puzzle. I didn’t completely cover the brownie batter but it doesn’t have to be perfect. These are very interesting. The chocolate of the brownies pairs well with the oatmeal and butterscotch.

Oatmeal Scotchie Brownie Bars

3 cups homemade brownie mix*

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1-1/2 tablespoons water

3 eggs

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup flour

1-1/2 cups oats

1 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and butter the foil, or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Make the brownie base: in a medium bowl mix the brownie mix, oil, vanilla, water and egg. With a spatula stir just until combined, the batter may still have lumps but that’s ok. Spread the brownie batter in the prepared pan.

Make the oatmeal scotchies: in a large mixer bowl, cream the butter, sugar and brown sugar on medium until creamy. Add the egg, vanilla, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt and stir again to combine. Add the flour and oats and mix on low until almost fully incorporated. Add the butterscotch chips and stir again on low until the completely mixed.

Working with spoonfuls of dough at a time, top the brownie batter with the oatmeal scotchies dough. You won’t perfectly or completely cover the brownie batter, but do the best that you can. Press down the dough lightly.

   

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the oatmeal scotchies begin to brown. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.

   

*Homemade brownie mix: in a large bowl whisk together 2 cups sugar, 1 cup cocoa powder, 1 cup flour and ½ teaspoon salt. This recipe makes more mix than you need for these bars.

Recipe from Crazy for Crust