peanut butter and honey oatmeal bars

So it snowed here this week. Not a lot, but enough to stick to the ground. I've said it before and I might eat my words again, but surely this is the last of winter. Right? Right?!?

And, as if snow is not bad enough, we've had insane wind right along with it. I'm not one to complain about wind. I mean, coming from Kansas, the land of few trees and zero hills, wind is just a part of life. But that wind had nothing on this. I'm talking about almost knock me over wind gusts. Like, walking to campus and had to stop and brace myself so I didn't get swept away. People driving by are probably still laughing about it. Next time I'll be sure to strap bricks to my feet to keep me on solid ground.

Spring, please?

I've been bringing you non-stop winter food for what feels like a million years and it's time to change things up. I whipped up these bars one evening when my sweet tooth was jonesing for a snack and I miraculously had all the ingredients on hand. Even though these are technically dessert, I'm going to go out on a limb and dub them (pseudo) health food. These bars are packed full of oats and peanut butter and relatively light on the butter and sugar. Nevertheless, these bars are full of flavor, especially if you opt for honey roasted peanut butter.

I think I could take down a pan of these on my own. In fact, my mouth is watering for one right now. Might have to make another batch of these this weekend to ease my pain at the cold, gloomy weather.

Happy Friday!

peanut butter and honey oatmeal bars

ingredients:
1/3 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup peanut butter, creamy or crunchy (I used honey roasted peanut butter to enhance the honey flavor)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oatmeal (not instant)

peanut butter and honey icing:
1 Tbsp butter, room temperature
2 Tbsp peanut butter
1 Tbsp milk
2 Tbsp honey
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp confectioners’ sugar
1/8 tsp salt

directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9×9-inch baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper and lightly grease.

In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, honey, peanut butter and vanilla until well-combined. At low speed, blend in the flour and salt. Stir in the oatmeal until ingredients are completely combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain.

Transfer to prepared pan and spread, using a spatula, into a thin, even layer. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until bars are golden brown around the edges and set. Allow to cool.

For the icing: Beat together butter, peanut butter, milk and honey in a small bowl until well combined. Blend in 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar and salt until smooth. Gradually blend in additional confectioners sugar, one tablespoon at a time until icing has a thick, but still spreadable consistency.

Spread icing into an even layer on top of the bars. Allow icing to set for about 2 hours before slicing the bars. Store bars wrapped or in an airtight container.

Yield: 9 bars

Source: very slightly adapted from Baking Bites