I tried to convince the kids that I made these bars from dirt and twigs.
Sometimes my kids are wary of things I make that are covered in chocolate. I’ve been accused more than once of hiding the flaxseed under the chocolate chips.
And even though I had no intention of making something “healthy” today, these Oat Fudge Bars were just too good to share. Don’t judge me. I just wanted a few stashed in the freezer for me, for later, for when a chocolate craving hits but eating chocolate chips out of the bag just isn’t good enough.
(Don’t even try to tell me you don’t eat chocolate chips out of the bag.)
“You won’t like these.”
“Yeah, right mommy. Nice try.”
Okay, so they didn’t buy it.
Obviously, we have some trust issues…
Zoe’s punishment for sneaking an extra one is having this picture made public. Take a good look.This is a cookie thief.
I don’t blame her sneaking another. I might have eaten three while cutting them into squares and packing them up. might
I ran this morning. Does that count?
These are dangerous. As in stay far away unless you can afford the calories dangerous. And who has room for this kind of extra calories.
So here is a fun fact. I made these gluten-free. Not that gluten-free makes them healthier or anything. They are still full of sugar and butter… but I used oat flour instead of all-purpose. And it worked like a charm. I have to give Kristine credit for the oat flour. These are totally worth making if you need a gluten-free treat. If gluten-free is not your thing, go ahead and use all-purpose flour instead, equal amounts.
I made some other tweaks to Kristine’s recipe to make a bigger batch and use ingredients I had on hand. I wanted a real fudgy filling too – so I used a basic fudge using Eagle Brand condensed milk, similar to this fudge recipe. Like I said, I was going for chocolately goodness here.. and this is what I got.
You will want to save this recipe for the holidays and school bake sales. Hey – no nuts! It’s school safe. And it’s quick and easy and makes a good-sized batch.
Yes these are just like the oat fudge bars you can get a Starbucks. Not that I’ve ever ordered one.
Your welcome
Oat Fudge Bars – Gluten-Free
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups large flake old fashioned oats
- 2 cups oat flour alternately use all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 300 ml can Eagle Brand Sweetened condensed milk
- 12 oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line a 8 x 12 baking dish with parchment paper
- In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, add butter and sugar and beat together on medium speed until well blended and creamy. Add eggs and beat until light and fluffy.
- In a medium sized bowl stir together oats and oat flour, baking soda and salt.
- Add oat mixture to butter and eggs mixture and beat together until well combined and it has formed a sticky dough.
- Reserve 1/3 of the dough and set aside. Press the remaining dough into the bottom of the baking dish. Dampen your hands with a bit of water to help press the dough flat into the baking dish. This is sticky dough. Press the dough slightly up the sides of the dish to make a bit of a ridge to catch the fudge topping
- To make the fudge: in a small sauce pan combine Eagle Brand condensed milk and chocolate chips over medium low heat. Stir until chocolate chips have melted and mixture is smooth and creamy. Remove from heat and stir in the tablespoon of butter and the vanilla.
- Evenly spread the fudge over top of the dough in the baking dish. Try to leave a half inch or so around the sides.
- Take small clumps of the dough previously set aside and press into flat shapes and lay on top of the fudge. Don't worry about covering the entire top, you want to see some fudge peaking through.
- Bake at 350 for 20-22 minutes. The oats on top should be slightly golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool before cutting into squares.
Thank’s for visiting. I’m Trish. I share healthy family recipes to inspire your family to eat their veggies and save room for cake!
yum these look simply amazing. Love that you posted a pic of your kid sneaking one. That was always me as a kid!
These look delicious. I can’t wait to give them a go. I am hopping over from Foodie Fridays. Thank you for sharing this yummy recipe x
I’m definitely trying this! They look wonderful! I need to pick up some oat flour first! Do you think they would work with another gluten free flour? I have a gluten free blend in the cupboard. Pinning…thanks so much for sharing them with us at Foodie Fridays! I’m trying to cook gluten free sometimes just to change up our diet…once upon a time we were eating gluten free due to a health issue, so its nothing new for the kids.
Thanks for stopping by Michelle! We don’t go out of our way to eat gluten-free in our house either. However, I do like to experiment with different flours.
These bars will work with regular all-purpose flour, and although I haven’t tried a gluten-free all-purpose replacement in this recipe, I have no doubt it would turn out just fine.