Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookie Breakfast Bars

I remembered a recipe from Weelicious, a blog and book about cooking for kids and families. That seemed an unexpected choice for a quarter-life cook, but stay with me. I love kid food. The recipe I remembered is for breakfast bars, not-too-sweet rectangles of baked oatmeal punctuated by fruit and nuts.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Breakfast Bars
Makes 16 bars or 32 squares
Adapted from Weelicious

These are not too sweet at all – more like a bowl of oatmeal than a cookie. In my book, that’s ideal for breakfast and snacking. If you’d like them sweeter, add an extra tablespoon or two of brown sugar, and/or use milk chocolate chips instead of the semisweet. Also, if your peanut butter is very smooth or at room temperature, you probably won’t need the electric mixer – just stir everything together. Since my peanut butter was cold and stiff, it was helpful to have the mixer to incorporate into the other ingredients. These keep well in the fridge for 5 days.

Ingredients
2 cup oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup peanut butter
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup neutral oil
1 egg
1 1/2 cup milk or almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chunks or chips
3/4 cup pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease two 4 1/2 by 8 1/2-inch loaf pans.

Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Beat together the peanut butter, sugar, and oil with an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then, whisk in the milk by hand – carefully, so you don’t splatter. Stir in the vanilla.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and fold to combine. Stir in chocolate and 1/2 cup nuts and pour the batter into the two prepared pans. Sprinkle evenly with the remaining pecans.

Bake the bars for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden. Using an offset spatula, loosen the bars from the pan and turn onto a rack to cool completely. When cool, cut each pan into 8 bars. If you want smaller servings, cut each bar in half. Store in the fridge.