Loaded with nutty oats, chunks of chocolate, and a dose of espresso powder, these cookie bars check all the cravings boxes.
Espresso Oatmeal Cookie Bars
Yields: 9
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups old-fashioned oats
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅔ cup unsalted butter, cubed
- 1 large egg
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup finely chopped walnuts
- 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, cut into ½-inch pieces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°. Line an 8×8-inch metal baking pan with parchment paper, allowing ends to extend over sides of pan.
- In a large bowl, stir together oats, flour, brown sugar, espresso powder, salt, and baking soda. Using a pastry blender or 2 forks, cut in butter until coarse crumbs form. (If necessary, use your hands to break up any large pieces of butter.)
- In a small bowl, whisk together egg and vanilla. Using a fork, stir egg mixture and walnuts into oat mixture until moistened. Reserve ¼ cup chocolate pieces; stir remaining chocolate into dough. Using your hands, crumble dough in clumps into prepared pan. (Do not press mixture into pan).
- Bake for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining ¼ cup chocolate. Loosely cover with foil, and bake until golden brown and set, about 5 minutes more. (Do not overbake.) Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Using excess parchment as handles, remove from pan and cut into bars.
