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Starbucks! Why Spend the Dough When You Can Make It?

Have you ever needed a coffee so badly that when that little green and white sign catches your eye, you do a happy dance inside...and maybe outside? Or when a Chai Latte is screaming your name just when those gigantic glowing orange letters appear and you know that soon all will be right with the world. The instant gratification is so rewarding when the warm, earthy flavor meets your lips and warms your insides as it begins its descent to your stomach which awakens and says, "Okay! Now I'm hungry." You look in the beautiful display cases and find wonderful and glorious treats staring back at you. Oh, for just one bite. Into your wallet you dive to find that you just spent your last $6.00 on the treasure that rests in your left hand while your right is still scrounging the bottom of your purse for that five dollar bill that must be drowning under all the spare change, receipts, and lipstick. You come up empty and realize that there will be no oatmeal chocolate bars for you today. That happy dance is now a slow, dragging of the feet, defeated long walk to the car. But then, as you gaze longingly into the rearview mirror, an epiphany strikes. This girl has got skills. Yeah! She's got baking skills and those chocolate oatmeal bars will be mine and they won't cost me the leg to go along with that arm that I already spent. So let's do this and recreate the chocolate oatmeal bars that drew me under the spell so insidiously.

The trick to recreation is to know your ingredients. Knowing that a bit of my books would involve baking, I knew I needed a deep understanding of ingredients, much like Joanne Fluke does when writing her murder mysteries in the bakery. You have to assume that somebody out there, might want to give your recipes a try and you certainly don't want to send them on the road to disaster. There has to be some trust so believe me when I say this...You can trust me!! These are awesome!!!

Oatmeal Chocolate Bars

Ingredients:

1.) Preheat oven to 350*

2.) Grease a 9x13 inch pan that can go in the freezer. If it can't, no worries. Use parchment paper and put it down over the pan so that you can lift the bars out later.

3.) 1 cup granulated sugar

4.) 1 cup brown sugar

5.) 2 eggs, room temp

6.) 1 cup butter, room temp

7.) Two cups flour

8.) 1 tsp baking soda

9.) 3 cups oats

10.) 1 can sweetened condensed milk (it's just a little over a cup.)

11.) 2 cups chocolate chips

12.) 1/2 cup butter

13.) 1 tsp vanilla

A.) Beat butter with a mixer (or strong arms) and blend in both sugars. Add the eggs.

B.) In separate bowl mix the baking soda, flour and oats. Now, I have often wondered about this whole dirtying another bowl for the dry ingredients. Really? Is this necessary? Yes, it is!! By sifting the dry ingredients together for any recipe, not only does it blend the ingredients better, but it helps to aerate the contents of the bowl which helps with the rising of the product. (Just a little tidbit.)

C.) Once mixed, place 3/4 of the dough in the pan and spread to all corners and edges.

D.) Next, in a saucepan on medium to low heat, mix the sweetened condensed milk, butter, chocolate and vanilla. Once melted and melded together, pour over oatmeal mixture and cover it.

E.) Next, plop (again, I love that word) the remaining dough in mounds over the chocolate.

F.) Bake for about 25 minutes.

G.) Once cooled, place in freezer until firm. Now, if you are using that other method with the parchment paper, wait until the cool completely before you lift them out. If they are still warm, the will break. Place them on a cookie sheet and then place in the freezer. The reason you are freezing them is so that the bars get firm and if you are using the pan methon, the chocolate will pull away from the pan.

H.) Cut into bars.

I.) Enjoy and think about the money you just saved so that you can buy those shoes you really wanted for this weekend.

Thanks for dropping in. I hope you stay awhile and enjoy the treats as much as I do. And I hope to see you here on Thursday for a wonderful recipe of meatball soup!!


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