Peanut Butter Bars with Oatmeal and Chocolate for #FoodieExtravaganza

This month's Foodie Extravaganza is brought to you by Sneha of Sneha's Recipe.  Sneha went over to The Nibble and discovered that November is National Peanut Butter Lover's Month.  I am a huge lover of peanut butter so this event has me very excited.  If you are a peanut butter nut, as well, you are in for a great treat this month as we all share our favorite peanut butter recipes.

My first thought when given this ingredient was Thai food.  Oh, how I love Thai food.  Just writing this makes my mouth water.  I noticed that I have yet to share any Thai food on this blog so it would have been perfect.  Alas, it was not meant to be but it will be made and shared on another day. Hopefully, very soon.

We celebrated Peanut Butter for Foodie Extravaganza two years ago.  At that time, I shared a recipe for a Chinese Dessert, Peanut Butter Filled Steamed Buns.  They were delicious and there were 19 peanut butter recipes shared in all.  Good thing that there are thousands upon thousands of Peanut Butter Recipes so we could celebrate every November for years and not run out of things to share.

One of my favorite recipes that I made were these Peanut Butter and Jelly Cakewiches that I made for my friend, Kirsten's, birthday one year. This Chocolate Peanut Butter Trifle  and Tagalong Bundt Cake were huge hits.  Then, of course, is everyone's favorite, the Peanut Butter Cup, I made mine in the shape of Eggs for Easter.  You are going to LOVE this recipe,

So, you can see why I first thought to go savory with today's recipe but I ended up making another wonderful Peanut Butter dessert to share with you.

I was cooking dinner for a church meeting and knew that these gooey, peanut butter bars would be a huge hit.  And they were.  The tray came home empty.  It is very hard to photograph brown foods...one of the tragedies of being a food blogger....sigh.

Trust me when I tell you that these looked much better than they photographed and tasted much better than they looked.  It is a quick and easy recipe that I found on Taste of Home.  Just knowing that they came from Taste of Home should be all the convincing you need to know that they are wonderful!

I made a couple of very slight adaptations to this recipe.  I used mini chocolate chips because that was what I had in the cupboard.  I only had a 1/4 c. light brown sugar so I added a 1/4 c. dark brown to it.  I used old fashioned oats instead of quick cooking oats.  They turned out amazing and I was proud to serve them at our meeting.

Peanut Butter Bars with Oatmeal and Chocolate

slightly adapted from Taste of Home

1 stick butter, room temperature

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c light brown sugar, packed

1/4 c. dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 c. creamy peanut butter

1 egg

1 t. vanilla

1 c. flour

1/2 c. oats

1 t.  baking soda

pinch of salt

1 c. mini chocolate chips

1/2 c. powdered sugar

2 T. creamy peanut butter

2 T. milk

In large bowl of stand mixer, fitted with paddle attachment, cream the butter with the sugars and peanut butter until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and vanilla.  Add the flour, oats, soda and salt. Beat on low speed until incorporated.  Increase speed and beat until well blended.  Reduce the speed to low and stir in the chocolate chips.  Spread into a 9x13" baking pan that has been treated with baking spray.  Bake in a preheated 350* oven for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove to a cooling rack.

Combine the powdered sugar, 2 T. peanut butter and milk in a 2 cup measuring cup, whisking until smooth.  Pour over the bars and spread with the back of a spoon to cover.  Cool completely and cut into 36 bars.  Print Recipe

 Check out these great Peanut Butter submissions!

• Homemade Peanut butter Cups from Fearlessly Creative Mammas
• Cold Noodles with Asian Peanut Sauce from Hardly a Goddess 
• Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Bars from Palatable Pastime 
• Peanut Butter Bars with Oatmeal and Chocolate Chips from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Peanut Butter Cookies from Basic N Delicious 
• Mini Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups from Sneha's Recipe 
• West African Peanut Soup from Caroline's Cooking 
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Bread from Making Miracles 

 Foodie Extravaganza is a monthly food fest, where a group of bloggers all create and share a recipe around one of the monthly food 'holidays' as detailed in The Nibble.  Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out HERE.