Chocolate Oatmeal Crackle Bars

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Chocolate oatmeal crackle bars are rich in toffee flavor with a touch of toasty oats, pecans, and shards of white and bittersweet chocolate. Oh my crackle! These cookie bars are next level in taste, texture, and addiction level.

I came up with the best cookie bar recipe ever on accident last night when the girls asked me to make oatmeal chocolate cookie bars. I was low on rolled oats and one type of chocolate so I used it as a chance to amp up flavor and play with a unique texture. These cookie bars crack with a crispness while you sink your teeth into a gooey chew. Warning, these are so good they will vanish after you make them!

I had no idea what to call these cookie bars since they have a mix of so many ingredients that make them similar to kitchen sink cookies. But when you crack into those shiny tops and take one bite you’ll see why chocolate oatmeal crackle bars are just right! In fact, they remind me a little of amped up crack pie.

Give me ALL the Flavor!

We all know that browning butter creates a nutty depth and toffee flavored explosion. So for these chocolate oatmeal crackle bars I used salted butter for extra deliciousness. And I added even more browned butter to the recipe than my usual Blondies call for. To incorporate every bit of the browned butter bits I added a ton of dark brown sugar to the hot butter just after it browned. This blasted the brown sugar with some heat to help it dissolve and distributed the flavor bombs of browned butter.

Speaking of dark brown sugar, I insist you use it for these cookie bars! Dark brown sugar has that extra molasses that takes these treats over the edge of dessert sanity.

Also, you’re going to be adding a full tablespoon of vanilla bean paste of extract.

Chopped chocolate will give the crackle bars pools of melty chocolate that are unbeatable in a cookie or cookie bar. When you eat these bars warm you will make sounds of joy! And your hands will covered in chocolate, which is never a bad thing.

And lastly, pecans are essential for that butter pecan meets oatmeal cookie meets chocolate chip cookie flavor.

Chocolate Oatmeal Crackle Bars

I’m obsessed with these. They may be some of the best treats I’ve ever made. And I’ll be honest, I’m not usually a gal who likes ultra sweet treats. I’m more of a rye whiskey and smoky, sultry flavor seeker. But I couldn’t stop eating these crackly topped cookie bars. And my girls went over the moon for them.

So now on to the bake.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9 inch square glass pan with parchment paper.

Roughly chop up both bittersweet and white chocolate and set aside.

Then brown your salted butter. Once it is browned, remove from the heat and throw in dark brown sugar. Whisk for a minute, allowing the whisk to gather up all the bits of browned butter from the bottom of the pan.

Best Cookie Bars EVER in the making!

Then dump that mixture into a large mixing bowl. Use a silicon spatula to scrape every single bit from the saucepan.

Next, whisk in an extra large egg. Follow it with the vanilla. Whisk vigorously for a couple more minutes to ensure that glossy finish. By now your nose will be in its happy place and your stomach will be growling!

Then add the oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and a wee bit more salt.

Use the spatula to mix it all together. Then add half of the chocolate shards. Spread the dough into your pan. Top it with the larger chocolate shards and pecans.

Bake for about 26-30 minutes. At 25 minutes give it a gentle shake to check for doneness. If it’s very underdone continue to bake for the full 30 minutes.

Allow to cool for 15 minutes before you eat them with passion!!

Thanks for making these Chocolate Oatmeal Crackle Bars! Spread the love for these by sharing this post with all dessert lovers and Pinterest. And join me on Instagram for more free recipes and food pics.

Catch me making these on Show Me St. Louis on KSDK Live at 10 am CST on 1/15/20.

XO,

Sarita

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