Peanut Butter Oat Fudge Bars

Hello frens! It’s 26 degrees outside, and while everyone is out enjoying the sun, I’m inside here watching *~Mindhunters*~ & baking treats like a true summer goth.

Yesterday we woke up bright & early-ish to hit up Free Comic Book Day! We stopped for a quick iced coffee at Starbucks enroute, and my other half ordered one of those oat fudge bars. We’ve been bored with our lunches lately, and I had the thought to make our own vegan ones at home, so I could try one too!

We have some big ol’ jars of coconut oil & smooth peanut butter (just like I admit to drinking Starbucks, I’ll also admit that I have a penchant for sweetened peanut butter once in awhile), so I used those! The recipe is below! If you’re a natural peanut butter purist or choose to make your own, I might suggest using a little bit of extra sugar or maple syrup in both the oats and “fudge” component. I don’t necessarily call them healthy, but I would argue that a small bar is comparable with the packaged ~guilty pleasure~ granola bars I hoard in my cupboard at home, and certainly a great midday pick me up! If you make any other variations, let me know! I’d love to hear about them!

Ingredients:

Oat Layer

1/2 cup softened coconut oil
1/2 cup smooth, peanut butter (I used sweetened, shamelessly)
2 flax eggs (2 tbsp + 6 tbsp water)
3/4 cane sugar
3/4 maple syrup
2 two vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
2 cups all purpose flour
2.5 cups old fashioned oats

Peanut Butter Fudge

300 g bag semi sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cups smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup full fat coconut milk

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 9×13 inch rectangular baking pan with parchment paper
In a large bowl, cream together your coconut oil, peanut butter, sugars, and maple syrup. Separately, whisk together flax eggs until nice & viscose & then add to wet mixture. Add vanilla & salt.
Fold in flour, and oats. This should look like some soft oatmeal cookie batter by the time you’re ready!
Microwaving a minute at a time or in double boiler, melt chocolate chips, stirring with spatula so they don’t burn.
Once melted, add peanut butter and coconut milk, folding until smoothly mixed
Take 2/3rds of the oat mixture and press into the pan so there’s even coverage.
With a rubber spatula, spread fudge mixture evenly across as well!
Ok- with the rest of the oat mixture, to make it look like those good food cafe ones, I like dolloping the top! I took bits of the coating in my hand, squished it down to about a half inch thick, and put it in random pieces all over the top. It ends up looking like this after baking:

9. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes! You’ll know it’s ready when the oatmeal has crusted a little bit. You’ll need to let this completely cool, and set for a couple hours before cutting up. I like to throw it in the fridge or freezer for a bit! Hope you love these!

Makes 24 squares ❤️