Dorie's Chocolate Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars

Dorie Greenspan's cookbook 'Baking: From My Home to Yours' is quite the rage. I mean there is an entire group of food bloggers dedicated to it. I am not part of this group but I have seen the weekly recipe on foodgawker all the time. Everyone was going on and on about this amazing cookbook and how great she is, and I just had to buy this book. Recently, I have been on a kick with buying new cookbooks so this was perfect timing. Mind you, I hadn't seen this book anywhere for months. But my luck changed when last week I came across it in the local bookstore.

 Let me tell you. I have read that puppy cover to cover. How could I not? I had to see if it was all it was hyped up to be. And was it? Well after trying this recipe, it clearly is. When it came time to decide the first recipe, I chose five and let my older brother choose. Pretty sure when he heard candy bars he actually paid attention. My God, these are good. I, too, can now say that you should buy her cookbook and start baking!

Dorie's Chocolate Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars

Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours

oatmeal layer
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed 
1 egg 
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2  cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
chocolate layer
half of a 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk 
1 cup milk chocolate chocolate chips
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup moist, plump raisins (The raisins made the bars amazing for me)
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp coarsely chopped peanuts, preferably salted

Center a rack in the oven, and preheat oven to 350º. Butter an 8 x 8 inch baking pan, and place the pan on a baking sheet. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a large bowl, beat the butter until it is soft and creamy. Add the brown sugar and beat until fluffy, then add the eggs, beating for a minute after the egg is added. Beat in the vanilla. The mixture should be light and fluffy. Slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear. Stir in the oats and chopped peanuts. Set aside a heaping 3/4 cup of the oatmeal mixture, then turn the remaining dough into the buttered pan. Gently and evenly press the dough over the bottom of the pan. Set aside while you prepare the next layer. Set a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Put the condensed milk, chocolate chips, butter, and salt in the bowl and stir occasionally until the milk is warm and the chocolate and butter are melted. Remove the bowl from the pan of water and stir in the vanilla, raisins, and peanuts. Pour the warm chocolate over the oatmeal crust, then scatter the remaining oatmeal mixture over the top. Don’t try to spread the oatmeal, and don’t worry about getting the topping even. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and the chocolate layer is dull and starting to come away from the sides of the pan. Transfer the baking pan to a rack and cool for about 2 hours. Run a blunt knife between the edges of the cake and the pan, and carefully turn the cake out onto a rack. Turn right side up, then refrigerate for at least 1 hour before cutting. Cut into 16 squares. Store these in the fridge in an airtight container, or even the freezer. I had one at room temperature, refrigerated and from the freezer, and all were amazing but I prefer fridge the best!