mixed berry crumb bars

while i was out in sun valley, idaho last week i had a different version of these bars. we were on a white water rafting trip and the tour guide's wife made huckleberry bars for a lunchtime dessert. i took one bite and knew i needed to get home and recreate them.

the recipe is super easy and comes together pretty quickly - you don't even have to turn on your mixer for these guys. you can use any flavor or brand of store-bought jam, but just make sure it's good quality.

ingredients:
recipe from allrecipes.com

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups any flavor fruit jam (i used mixed berry)

directions:

preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 inch pan.

in a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar, flour, baking soda, salt and rolled oats. press 2 cups of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. spread the preserves over the top and sprinkle with the remaining crumb mixture, gently pressing crumbs into jam.

bake for 35 to 40 minutes. allow to cool and cut into mini squares.

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oatmeal, dark chocolate & peanut butter bars

the title of this post alone should have your mouth watering. mine sure was after i found this recipe at dinner or dessert.  you probably have most of the ingredients in your cabinets anyways (i did) and its super easy to make. my favorite part was that these bars weren't too sweet (i'm not really a sweets eater) and the pb & dark chocolate really complimented each other. serve it as a dessert or a mid-day snack!

i followed the recipe exactly so here it is...

ingredients:
1 cup softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup dark chocolate chips or 1 dark chocolate bar
1 cup peanut butter

directions:
preheat oven to 375 degrees.

combine butter, sugar and vanilla and beat until creamy. beat in the eggs. add the flour and oatmeal. spread into a greased 9x13 pan and bake for 20 minutes. while the oatmeal mixture is baking, use a double boiler to melt the chocolate with the peanut butter. depending on how thick the chocolate mixture is, you can add in 1-2 tsp of milk or shortening if needed. let the oatmeal base cool and then spread the warm chocolate, peanut butter mixture over the oatmeal base. place in fridge to let cool and harden for 30 minutes. cut into squares.

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