Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

A good friend of mine whom I haven't seen in over 6 years came and stayed with us on Friday night.  We cooked some dinner and had some great conversation.  Before she arrived, I knew I was in the mood for something sweet, but didn't have a lot of time to mess around.  This recipe proved to be fool-proof, very easy, and highly addictive.  We kept 'grazing' on the pan of bars throughout the evening and the next morning.  In one word: FANTASTIC. Typically, I'm terrible at making cookies, as my patients wears out and I inevitably end up burning the cookies.  This is a great solution, as it's more forgiving than small cookies.  As long as you have a timer set and your eye on it, you can't ruin it by leaving it in the oven for 1 minute too long.

I saw this recipe at the Slow Food website, which I am excited to try out sometime in the near future.  Also, there's a number of fantastic recipes on this website that I'm excited to try.  Check it out!

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups oats (quick cooking or old fashioned will work)
1 bag chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  In a large bowl, mix together butter, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt until well combined and creamy using an electric mixer.  In a second bowl, add the flour and baking powder, and mix the dry ingredients until combined.  Slowly, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture.  I did this in three batches, stirring by hand with a wooden spoon until just combined after each addition.  Finally, fold in the oats and chocolate chips.

Lightly butter a 9x13 baking dish.  Spread the cookie mixture into the dish, pressing evenly into place using a large spoon or your hands.  Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.  Allow to cool before cutting them into bars.  Or don't cut them into bars, and just leave a knife in the pan so that you can walk by and cut yourself off a piece whenever you like.  This is my preferred method.  Of course, this second method is a terrible one for you body (but great for your soul...).