TWD—Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars

Kevin really doesn’t like raisins.  I say that nicely, but he really doesn’t like them.  I knew if I was to make these “candy bars” and have any hopes that he and even the boys would eat them that I would not be making them with raisins.  Lillian of Confectiona's Realm chose our recipe this week for Tuesday’s With Dorie.  She chose Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars on pages 114-115.  They have an oatmeal cookie layer with peanuts, then a fudge layer that has raisins and more peanuts.  Oh, did I mention Kevin doesn’t really care for the peanut chocolate combo either.  Nope, not gonna fly here. 

Here’s what I decided to do.  I made half the recipe—we certainly didn’t need a 9x13 pan of these no matter what I put in them!  I was all set to make them in an 8x8 inch square pan, then I found some little heart shaped pans at World Market and decided I’d make a couple in those pans and didn’t know exactly how much would be left, so I put the rest in an 8x4 inch bread pan.  But what did I do since you now know I wasn’t planning on raisins and peanuts?   Hmmm?

Does this help?

Well, I guess not really, you still can’t tell what’s hiding inside.  Let’s see, what other pictures do I have?

I did not put nuts in the oatmeal cookie layer, I lined them up on top.  Hmmm?  Pecans.  What else goes with pecans and chocolate?  Anyone?

Well, that’s not very pretty, what in the world is it?  Why it’s mashed Rolo Caramel Candies, it is.  Yep, I went with pecans and caramel instead of peanuts and raisins.  Turtles, anyone?  So, while the Rolos aren’t that pretty, I went with them because they are a softer caramel (and I’m too lazy to make my own).  I made some other cookies during the holidays that had a Kraft caramel in the middle and while they were really good, after the cookies sat for a time, the caramel inside got really hard.  So I decided to use Rolos.  Then I covered the pecans and caramel with the chocolate/fat free! condensed milk mixture (I always use fat free condensed milk—you know, to make a much healthier bar ;)).  I like to do this kind of thing in a piping bag—it makes for more easier, even distribution.  I used some chopped milk chocolate as I think that milk chocolate goes better with the pecans and caramel, in this case anyway.  Oh, I also left the cinnamon out of the cookie dough.

Cookie Sprinkles.

Cool time.  Cut time. And, photos!

Holy cow!  These are REALLY good.  Like scary good.  Like, “Hey-everybody-eat–these-quick-good.”

And so, they did.  The boys really like them.  I’m pretty sure Kevin likes them.  I know he’s eaten a few.  I have tasted them, but sworn off eating too much of them.   I actually took that first photo, then decided to cut them each in half.  About a one inch square is puh-lenty!

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Then try not to eat three, four, five of them! ;)

The bars that were made in the bread pan are a little thick on the bottom cookie layer.  The ones in the heart pans are perfect.  In the photo above, these were cut right after chilling them for a few hours, as Dorie said they are best chilled.  Well, that was if they had raisins and peanuts.  The caramel was a little to hard to bite with the chilled bars.  At room temperature, they are much, MUCH better!

Ooey, gooey chocolaty caramel, pecan nutty goodness with wholesome oats!  Sigh.  What’s not to love?  Thank you, Lillian (great, yummy blog, by the way!).   That’s all for today.  Next up, I’ve got more delicious healthy treats to share with you!  I’ve gotta keep it real here.  I love baking.  I love TWD.  I will keep baking.  But I’ve got to NOT eat so much of this stuff.  So I’ve been looking for healthier alternatives.  And I’m finding lots of great things.  Check out the Almost Vegan Spelt Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies on my last post if you missed them.  I’ve got more.  I’ll try to get them posted soon.  Hey, check out the other TWD bloggers to see what they did with these bars, I’ve heard talk of dried cranberries instead of raisins, or butterscotch chips or peanut butter chips or…..well, just check them out!