This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie recipe is Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars. And they don’t just have oatmeal and chocolate: they also have peanuts and raisins, giving them extra candy bar gooeyness. For some reason I had it in my mind they contained coconut, which would have been a delicious addition, but Josh doesn’t like it and I was counting on him to consume the lion’s share of these bars (I could tell from the name and number of ingredients they were more his type of snack than mine).
On the Problems & Questions section of the TWD site, people seemed divided about liking raisins in these bars. Since I’m incredibly indecisive (and don’t always like raisins), I used half raisins and half dried sour cherries. I don’t think the type of dried fruit was as important as the bit of contrast and chewiness they lent to the middle chocolate layer, which was also supposed to have peanuts. I chopped up peanuts and then forgot to add them into the chocolate/fruit mixture, so mine were sprinkled on top. I made a half batch, which mostly fit in a 10x7 baking dish, plus one little ramekin. Dorie recommends testing the bars to see if you like them warm, so the ramekin was perfect for that. They’re good both ways! Oh, I thought the bars were a bit difficult to coax out of the pan, so next time I would make a parchment sling for easy lifting – they’re sturdy, so I’m sure it would work well.
I preferred the oatmeal layers and must admit to eating around the chocolate. Josh told me he’d eaten one like that today, too. We thought these treats deserved an 8 for Deliciousness and I gave them a 3 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.66 . Many thanks to Lillian of Confectiona’s Realm for a yummy selection; Lillian’s husband and sons are great food critics and it’s fun to read their reactions to the TWD treats. You can find the recipe here and visit the TWD blogroll to see what the other bakers thought of the bars.
15 comments:
I love the idea of sour cherries in the chocolate layer, and I think coconut would be wonderful, too. You're right, though, it's important to make sure that treats will be eaten, even if you have to leave certain ingredients out!
eating around the chocolate layer? Sadly I've never tried such a thing in my life! They look perfecto!
I too liked the chewiness of the added fruit, but then left the squares for my family to eat. I prefer oatmeal with a fruit filling. Your look great in the photo!
Yours look so perfect! I never thought about eating AROUND the chocolate! Maybe that information is not so good for my waistline as I can always look forward to chocolate weeks at TWD as I know I won't be adding to any calories I consume that week. The guys loved, loved, loved these. I made more this morning. I kid you not. My list is growing for college boxes in 18 months: Your Toffee, These Bars....LOL...am certain the list will be much longer by then.
They look really delicious, and I love the idea of adding coconut! I have to customize recipes sometimes too, because I'm counting on my husband to eat it and I want him to like it. Although, he thought he didn't like coconut, but decided that he does now. That was great news for me!
They look great and I like that you can add whatever to this recipe!
I did the sling thing---and you're right. It worked great. But yours look perfect so I don't guess you needed it.
Your bars look amazing! I love the idea of adding coconut!
Coconut would have been a delicious addition. I'll have to try that next time. Thanks for baking with me this week!
They look fabulous, even if the peanuts never made it into the middle :)
Yours look darn pretty! I'd eat the whole thing!
DELICIOUS CONCEPT! I think I may have to try it out myself ;)
-Mr RT
Look delish. I liked the oatmeal layers better than the chocolate. But liked the whole combo too.
Your cookie bars look scrumptious! I like the idea of sour cherries but I'm not a fan of fruit with chocolate...
I'm flabbergasted that you ate around the chocolate! I didn't think there was enough chocolate! =)
Oooh, coconut would have been a great addition to these! I probably wouldn't have used it even if I thought of it, for the same reason you stated. I left the raisins out for that reason too. These were just a bit too rich for me. Yours look awesome!
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