Oatmeal Raisin Bars

oatmeal raisin bars

Have a craving for oatmeal raisin cookies but feeling too lazy to whip out a batch of cookies? These oatmeal raisin bars will do the trick!  This recipe produces a dense bar that is perfect as a breakfast treat! Who says oatmeal cookies aren’t OK for breakfast? Fool those crazy people with these bars! Eat one or two or three…and get away with it cuz they totally aren’t cookies! They’re bars!  Got a BBQ to go to? Bring these! They’ll hold up well in the heat!

Let’s get started!

Gather your oats!  I realized I used *quicker* cooking oats. You’re apparently not supposed to. My bad.

oats!

Mix melted butter into a large bowl with sugars & egg.

butter

Wanna poke that bubble? I know you do! Time for the cinnamon addition!

cinnamony

Mix the flour, salt & oats into the wet ingredients along with your raisins!

stir!

Batter…mmmm. Take a taste! I won’t tell anyone!

batter/dough?

Spread it on a lubed pan with parchment paper. Off to the oven it goes!

plop!

Let it cool properly, or you might have trouble cutting!

fresh out of the oven

Cut those puppies up!

cutting them up

I ate quite a few with coffee. You should too.

perfect with a cuppa joe

It’s really really simple to make. I bet your kids would love to make some….

Oatmeal Raisin Bars

(recipe from Everyday Food Magazine)

Makes 16

  • 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
  • 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
  • 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
  • 1 cup raisins
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line bottom with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides; butter paper.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugars, egg, salt, and cinnamon until smooth. Add flour, oats, and raisins; fold in just until combined.
  3. Spread batter in prepared pan, and bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan. Using paper overhang, lift cake onto a work surface; cut into 16 bars.

Shutterbean Notes:

-It wasn’t until I looked at my photo that I realized I used quick oats. Doh! The recipe still worked out fine. I bet it will have more texture with regular oats. I ate a good ton of them, nonetheless!

-The cooking time seemed to take a little bit longer than 30 minutes. I used an 8inch square baking pan but am wondering if a 9 inch would have been better? The bars would have been a little bit thinner. Maybe I’ll do it next time.

  • Katrina

    This would be a great breakfast food! I love how quickly it comes together. Amazing.

  • Julie (Bananas for Bourbon)

    Yum! If I replace the raisins with chocolate chips I can still eat them for breakfast, right? 😉 I’ll bet some dried cherries or dried cranberries would be delicious too! I have nothing against raisins…except when they’re in my cookies or cookie-like products.

  • Jobin Thomas

    All your entries make me smile. It’s only bin two days but I think I have gone through all of them. I love how you supplement it with lots of pictures. I am a very visual person too. I am getting into this mode where I love trying out new things but am lazy to do any serious cooking. Some of your ideas are amazing, like the frozen burritos. Pure genius. I was just stumbling and came across this page. Thanks for this and I will be following this website for simple yet awesome ideas.

    jt

    • Tracy

      wow! thank you for your kind words! that totally makes my day 🙂

      • Jobin Thomas

        I shared this website with one of my bosses and she loves it. Her fav was peanut butter and bacon cookies. 🙂

  • robyn

    this looks super-duper (though i’d be inclined to want to add walnuts for myself). would it be sacrilegious to substitute 1/2 cup applesauce for some of the butter?

  • Jenn

    You’re so right, a cinch to make and so delicious too! I did use a 9-inch pan as opposed to the 8-inch one the recipe called for, and I think the squares are the perfect bite size. I switched up the recipe a bit by adding some vanilla, subbing in diced dried apricots instead of raisins, and sprinkled some raw can sugar on top before I baked it to give it a little glisten and crunch. Yummm. Will be making these again sometime very soon.

  • Ciara

    I have a batch of these just put in the oven. SO excited for them to come out!!

  • Barbara

    how did the applesauce substitute come out?

  • Barbara

    and… I used dark brown sugar instead of light… it’s snowing and I’m not going to the grocery… in the oven now!

  • Natasha @ Smorish

    Just made these- they’re so so good and super quick to whip up! I only had raw sugar and quick oats so had to use those (too lazy to go to the store :P)but they turned out great. I can’t stop at one either.

    Thanks 🙂

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