Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

Preheat your oven to 350 F and line a 9×13 inch pan with foil, allowing some foil to hang over the ends of the pan.

For the base: In a large bowl cream together the brown sugar and the butter. Mix in the eggs, vanilla, and milk. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients into the butter/sugar mixture and stir to combine. Stir in the oats. The dough will be fairly thick and sticky.

For the topping: In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt together the condensed milk, chocolate, vanilla and butter, stirring regularly until smooth and melted.

To assemble the bars, spread or press about 3/4 of the oatmeal mixture into the prepared pan. Pour the melted chocolate mixture over the top of the dough. Take the remaining oatmeal mixture and distribute spoonfuls of it evenly across the top of the chocolate. It probably won’t cover the chocolate completely, but it will look pretty when it’s done cooking.

Bake for a total of 25 minutes, covering the pan with foil after 15 minutes of baking. The top of the cookies can brown a little too much if you don’t cover the pan (but they’ll still taste good even if you forget to do it). Remove pan from oven and set it on a rack. Let the cookies cool in the pan until set. I let mine set overnight because the chocolate takes a while to firm up. Cut in to squares and enjoy!