Seriously sinful gooey oatmeal bars

Side note: I took all the pictures for this when I was at my parents' and never got around to publishing them. Anyway, here's the post, a little belated but just as delicious!

Side note, part deux: If your New Year's resolution was to lose weight, back away from this blog post immediately. I won't even be hurt. Leave now before I introduce you to the most gloriously delicious bar cookie in my repetoire.

What's that, you're staying? Good.

While I was home my dad decided that he wanted to bake, then after I told him about these bar cookies, he basically cleared out and let me handle things. They're wonderful. I frequently make double or triple batches for events at Boyfriend's fraternity, and they go so fast you'd think I never made any at all.

The fun thing about cooking at home is that my mom has basically every cooking and baking tool you could think of, including (among other things) a strawberry corer and these adorable measuring spoons:

Precious! Mom found them at a garage sale, and I want to steal them. Anyway, down to business.

Mix brown sugar, oats, butter (lots of butter), baking soda, and flour together in a bowl:

Apply some dad-magic (or just stir it, if no dad is on hand):

And finally, use your fingers to press half the mixture into the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch pan:

There's no precision required here (or anywhere in this recipe), but it does help to make sure there are no cracks along the bottom. I didn't get all the corners covered (see the bottom left?), but that's okay.

Pop this in the oven for 10 minutes. When you pull it out, sprinkle anywhere between a cup and two cups of chocolate chips across the bottom, again trying to cover it as evenly as you can without stressing, then cover the entire thing with a cup of caramel sauce.

Have you had a heart attack yet?

Take the remaining oat mix and sprinkle it on top, then stick it back in the oven for 15 minutes. At this point it might be a little poofy, but just pull it out and don't worry about it.

My mother thinks this picture looks like a litter box. But I promise it's 10 ^1'000 more delicious than cat litter.

Now comes the hard part: Wait until the bars have cooled all the way until you slice them up and eat them. I tend to stick them in the freezer if I have space. It's probably not good for the chocolate, but then again, these bars don't last long — not even long enough for me to take a fancy picture of them to show off with. In any case, the bars should look like stratified, with a layer of cookie, a layer of chocolate and caramel, and another layer of cookie on top.

UPDATE: I found a picture of an old batch I made. And now I want more.

Enjoy.

Sinful Gooey Oatmeal Bars

Ingredients:

1.5 cups butter

1.5 cups brown sugar

2 cups oats

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

0.5 teaspoon salt

1 to 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup caramel sauce

To make:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. 

2. Combine butter, brown sugar, oats, flour, baking soda, and salt.

3. Press half this mixture into a 9 by 13 inch pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool slightly.

4. Sprinkle chocolate chips over crust.

5. Drizzle caramel sauce over chocolate chips and crust.

6. Crumble remaining oatmeal mixture on top and bake for 15 minutes.

7. Allow bars to cool before you scarf them, or stick them in the refrigerator to allow them to harden.