Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Bars (Flapjacks)

A few weeks ago, we sent out "COVID Care Packages" to people with an assortment of baked goods. The clear favorite seemed to be these dark chocolate oatmeal bars, which are similar to flapjacks available in the UK as I recently learned from my cousin! :) One of the great things about this recipe is that it doesn't require flour, which is hard to find in some areas right now. It's also fairly forgiving in terms of making substitutions. I've tried various combinations of sweeteners- honey, brown sugar, maple syrup, corn syrup, and molasses. The recipe below has my preferred combination, but you can comfortably substitute the corn syrup and molasses with the same amount of any of the other sweeteners depending on what you have at home.

Ingredients

2.5 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup (4 oz) unsalted butter (vegan- substitute coconut oil)

1/3 cup sugar

1.5 tbsp corn syrup

1 tbsp molasses

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 8-inch by 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper or foil.

2. In a blender, blend half of the rolled oats (1.25 cups) into a fine powder.

3. In a medium-size pot, heat the butter and sugar together over low heat. Stir constantly until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Take the pot off the heat.

4. Mix the corn syrup, molasses, salt, and cinnamon into the butter-sugar mixture until it looks uniform.

5. Add all of the oats (the powder you blended in Step 1 and the remaining whole rolled oats) to the pot. Mix well until all the oats are coated with the butter-sugar mix.

6. Transfer the oats to the parchment/foil-lined baking dish. Press it out all the way to the edges of the baking dish and try to make it an even thickness throughout so it cooks evenly. Bake in the oven at 350 F for 23 minutes for chewy bars or 25 minutes for crispier bars.  The edges should be bubbly and a golden brown.

7. Remove the baking dish from the oven. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top while it is still hot and let it sit at room temperate for 5 minutes. In this time, the residual heat should be enough to melt the chocolate chips. Take a butter knife or spatula and gently spread the melted chocolate chips into an even layer.  Alternative, you can use a fork if you want to get a patterned, textured chocolate layer on top.

8. Let the bars sit in the baking dish at room temperature until it is completely cool- you can tell because the chocolate chips should harden back up. If they aren't hard after about 15 minutes, you can put the baking dish in the fridge for about 10 minutes to help the chocolate harden.  Once it's cooled and the chocolate is solid again, transfer the entire block to a chopping board. Remove the parchment paper / foil and use a sharp knife to cut the bars into your desired size. I like long and skinny bars, so I cut them to about 1/2-inch by 3-inches. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature.