Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

a spoonful taken out of a bar with white ribbon

5 from 8 votes

These chocolate oatmeal bars are a blend of 7 ingredients, including chewy oats and chocolate. These delicious dairy free bars are ready in under an hour, bake or no bake bars.

Prep Time5

Cook Time43

Total Time48

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 280kcal

Author: Dee Dine

Equipment

1 Measuring cups & spoons
1 Bowl
1 Hand-mixer Or use a fork or spoon to stir
1 8-inch square baking pan
1 12-inch x 8-inch parchment paper

Ingredients

Bottom Crust & Top Crumb

1 ⅓ cup oat flour or 1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
pinch of salt
½ cup peanut butter softened in microwave for 10 seconds; I use Earth Balance vegan butter

Chocolate Filling

1 cup oat flour or ⅔ cup all purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar or cane sugar
1 ½ cups chocolate chips Enjoylife melts well.
6 tablespoon applesauce unsweetened or use room temperature aquafaba, same amount
pinch of salt
3 tablespoon butter softened, 10 seconds in a microwave
1 tablespoon peanut butter

Instructions

Prep

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Gather ingredients.
Line a 8-inch by 8-inch pan with parchment paper.
Melt the butter for the crust in microwave for 10 seconds. You want it melted as it is the glue that holds the crumble together.

Make Crust & Crumble Top

Combine crust ingredients and melted butter. I used a hand mixer. You want the mixture to be crumbly.
1 ⅓ cup oat flour, 1 cup rolled oats, 1 cup brown sugar, pinch of salt, ½ cup peanut butter
Remove ¾ cup of the mixture and set aside to use for the top crumb.
Press the rest into the parchment-lined pan and level off with a spatula.
Bake the crust for 8 minutes at 325 F. Or for a no-bake version, just set aside and make the filling.
If baked, remove from oven, keep the crust in the pan and allow it to cool while you make the filling.

Make Chocolate Filling

Preheat the oven to 350 F. (note the temperature change) Measure out filling ingredients.
Put the butter and chocolate chips, into a 2-cup pyrex glass measuring cup and microwave for 1 minute. Stir in sugar and stir until creamy. Spoon in the apple sauce, and nut butter and stir again.
1 ½ cups chocolate chips, 6 tablespoon applesauce, 3 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon peanut butter, 1 cup brown sugar
Into a medium mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
1 cup oat flour, pinch of salt
Add the chocolate mixture to the dry mixture and stir into a batter. It will be like a brownie batter.
Spoon batter onto the baked crust and smooth the surface with a spoon.

Add Crumb Top

Sprinkle the reserved crumb top onto the brownie batter.
Bake at 350 F for 30 to 35 minutes or until the crumb is golden brown. The center layer will seem moist and leave a testing stick fudgy. Or for no bake bars, freeze the pan covered for 30 minutes.
If baked, remove pan from oven and let the bars cool in the pan for 30 minutes.
For clean slices, refrigerate the pan until you can slice cleanly.
Store the oatmeal bars in the refrigerator for 1 week in sealed container. Or freeze for 3 months.

Video

Notes

Make No Bake Bars. Assemble all three layers with no baking, and slip the pan in the freezer for 30 minutes or until it can be sliced.

Flour. You can use all purpose flour instead of oat flour, but use less for both the crust/crumble and the chocolate layers. Amounts are listed in ingredients.

Nutrition