Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

My mom made these all the time growing up, and they are my favorite however the recipe here is a little off. Use Sweetened and Condensed milk not evaporated milk. Also, save some of the crust to sprinkle on the top and bake the crust for about 15 minutes before adding the rest to it, that makes it more of a bar base and not so mushy!

This recipe turns out perfectly even with evaporated milk in a 9x13 pan. I usually double the recipe and use a 16x12x1 in. cookie sheet. I also leave out the walnuts b/c of personal preference. Granted the filling can be a little tedious(constant stirring) but its minimal effort for an incredibly tasty bar. I HAVE to bring these to every event I attend or risk being shunned by friends and family alike!

These had a wonderful flavor but I wish I would have read the reviews first because mine came out mushy since I used the 9 inch square pan. I will definitely make them again but use a bigger pan.

I followed the directions except 1) I used a can of condensed milk instead of the evaporated milk and I ommitted the 1/4 cup sugar in the filling and 2) I cooked the bars in a 9 x 13 pan and 3) I precooked the base for about 12 minutes. They turned out okay, but they use SO much butter that I won't make them again.

Delicious!! Yes they do crumble a bit, but I'd rather have a tasty bar than a tidy and less tasty bar. I increased all ingredients by 50% and baked this on a heavy 10x17 cookie sheet for 25 minutes. This is a keeper.

It certainly does need the 9x13 and by reading the other reviews I knew this. My try at this turned out very much like a moist cake-like bar when it came out of the oven-we can never wait for things to cool- and the next day settled into a gooey chocolatey bar cookie. Both ways were excellent! We like to eat it with whipped topping.

This recipe turns out great if you use a larger pan. I took these to a holiday party and everyone asked for the recipe. And anyone who thinks the filling is too much trouble either doesn't work often with chocolate or is incredibly lazy. It only took about 5 minutes.

In a 9x13 pan with sweetened condensed milk this always comes out incredibly! one of my favorite recipes of all time!!

These bars turned out mushy. It seemed as though a 9" square pan was too small. We had them scooped out over ice cream and they were quite good, but not at all bars, more like a pudding.

Once I realized how small a 9x9 pan looked next to the cookie base, I immediately got out the 9x13! We haven't tried it yet as it just came out of the oven, but the recipe was very easy to follow and took no time whatsoever! It smells great, can't wait for it to set up so we can DIG IN!!

This recipe should be made in a 9x13 pan, not a 9" square pan. They came out perfect in the longer pan. The recipe said that it is supposed to make 3 dozen bars. No way in a 9" square pan! That was my clue. In fact I didn't realize that it was originally written as 9" until after I had made them. I just assumed since they were bar cookies that I was supposed to use my bar pan :-) Kids loved them - even with the oatmeal!

Used a 13 by 9 to bake it and used sweetened condensed milk instead of evap. I also added more oatmeal on the last step until it was more "crumbly". It came out very YUMMY!

This recipe was pretty good but I changed a couple of things. First, after reading other reviews a ended up using a 9x13 in pan. I also baked the cookie bottom about 10 mins before I added the chocolate and the topping. For the chocolate topping I used evaporated milk and omitted the sugar. I thought that the chocolate seemed thin so I doubled it. I also used almonds instead of walnuts; it is what I had on hand. These are tasty but REALLY rich. I think if I made them again I would cut the butter in the cookie part to be only 1 cup. The cookie part is a little greasy and I think that the taste and texture would still be good with less butter. I also might try using almond flour instead of reg flour for a gluten free option.

This recipe was entirely too big for a 9 inch square pan. As it cooked, it nearly rose over the edge of the pan, and took WAY longer to cook than the 25 - 30 minutes the recipe called for. After 30 minutes, the edges of the pan were dark brown, and the middle was like soup. I think this definately needs a bigger pan. Also, making the chocolate filling was too much trouble, and also a little soupy. I probably won't ever make these again. Too bad, I used up alot of good ingredients.

There is something wrong with this recipe. The pan size is way to small. I will try this recipe once more using a jelly roll pan - because even though the first try didn't turn out, they still tasted good.

Theses are the best oatmeal bars i have ever had! I brought them to a bake sale and they were gone in 10 minutes. try them and you'll see!!!

This recipe definitely has potential. But as others have already said, the proportions are off. I added all the oats and an additional one fourth cup flour to the base mixture. Then I used two thirds as the base pressed into the pan and the remainder as topping. Used a 15 x 9 pan. Turned out perfect! Hope this helps.

It took longer than I expected to prepare. They tasted wonderful!

Although most of the people who tasted the bars said they were "alright". I can't say I really enjoyed this recipe. I had to make a few changes. (pan size, baking crust first, increased baking time...) Maybe I was just having an off day.

My children said that these were delicious. Very rich bars!

I thought the recipie turned out pretty good, but just not sweet enough for my taste. I will try it again and probably increase the brown sugar by about a half cup, and use a little bit more of the milk.

These bars are unbelievably good! I will definitely make these again (and again, and again and again)!! For the record, I used chopped almonds rather than walnuts as people in my house find walnuts a little bitter.

After reading reviews I tried a bigger pan but didn't have enough for layers. Not a bad flavor but a little gooey.

I am giving this 4 out of 5 because it tastses so good, I suggerst you use a 9x13" pan...9X9 will not cut it! I used 1 cup butter and I'll cut that back more the next time I make this recipe. I used my fingers and pieced the remaining oatmeal topping all over the top exposing the chocolate here and there. I used almond milk and not evaporated. The chocolate mixture is too wet! I had to add the remaining 1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips to thicken it up and it set up perfectly as the bars cooled. It tasted more like a semisweet chocolate pudding on top. YUM. I baked the cookie dough for ten minutes, took it out and poured the chocolate chip mixture all over and topped the remaining dough all over the top here and there; then baked for about 20 minutes. After all my changes, it is super yummy and I will make this again for sure! I even added a photo showing how my topping looked.

My family thought that this recipe was AMAZING!!We made it for guests and my daughters soccer game and everybody loved it.We will definitely be baking these again!It is not true that evaporated milk doesn't work, it works fine!If you have extra filling, we highly recommend using it as fondue for bananas or strawberries!

mine came out a little dry...

Delicious! I add coconut and almonds to the chocolate. Very moist. My kids (and friends) loved it!

Absolutely delicious crunchy and chocolate in this bar cookie. My new favorite. Highly recommend.

Good recipe....used sweetened condensed milk instead of evaporated milk and the extra sugar required.

I made this with condensed milk instead of evaporated milk and it was still a little gooey but super yummy! Great family recipe, I probably wouldn't make it for company just because its not very pretty.