Bake Sale Winning-est Gooey Oat Bars

Do you procrastibake?

I meant to do many things this week, but instead I baked. I baked slow-rise refrigerator focaccia. I baked slow-rise, sourdough focaccia. I baked fast-rise, yeasted, freshly milled flour focaccia. I baked slow-rise, yeasted, freshly milled flour focaccia.

And when I tired of the focaccia genre, I made these bake-sale winningest gooey oat bars from Deb Perelman’s Smitten Kitchen Every Day. I baked them late at night, stashed them in the fridge, and awoke the next morning ready to face the potentially troubling task of slicing, which turned out to be a cinch thanks to the rest in fridge. Ben and I each had a bar with our coffee — an especially good match — then I sent him to work with (nearly) all that remained. By 10am, I was receiving text-message requests from his coworkers for the recipe.

These bars are a snap to throw together: a buttery shortbread crust comes together in seconds in the food processor, which then bakes alone while you stir together the gooey topping, a mix of melted butter, sugar, eggs, oats, chocolate, and coconut. Once crust and topping unite, the pan returns to the oven for a quick final bake.

Deb says these bars taste like “brown butter and caramel… like an old-school magic bar, but possibly even more delicious.” This is all true, except for the “possibly” bit — these are so much better than magic bars.

If you find yourself overwhelmed by your to-do list this weekend, I suggest you bake instead. You can bake bread or cookies or muffins or these gooey oat bars, an effort guaranteed to earn you street cred with any neighbors, colleagues, or friends you share them with or, at the very least, bring you complete and utter bliss when you hanker for that afternoon pick-me-up.

Happy procrastibaking, Friends.

Here’s the play-by-play: blend flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor.

Add butter.

Purée until big clumps form.

Press it into a 9×13-inch pan. (Love this 9×13-inch USA Pan.)

Bake until lightly golden.

Meanwhile, melt butter till it begins to brown.

Gather your remaining ingredients: eggs, sugars, oats, chocolate, and coconut.

Stir the sugars into the butter.

Add the eggs one at a time.

Whisk till blended. (I get asked about this whisk a lot.This one (the large, not the small) is similar.

Add the coconut, oats, and vanilla.

Stir in the chocolate chips.

I like these Guittard dark (63% cacao) chocolate chips.

Stir to combine.

Pour over the baked crust. Return to the oven.

Bake until lightly golden.

Cut the bars — this is especially easy if you let the bars set up in the fridge.

Dust with powdered sugar. Store in the fridge.

The best afternoon treat: gooey oat bar + espresso.

From Smitten Kitchen Every Day:

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