Cranberry-Raisin Oatmeal Cookie Bars

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream butter with sugars. Add egg and vanilla, and blend well.

Combine cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and flour. Add this to the wet ingredients and stir until combined.

Stir in oats, then stir in your dried fruit or chocolate chips, whichever you’re adding.

(If you’re trying to make several people in your household happy, like I usually do, then split your dough in half. Add chocolate chips to one half and dried fruit to the other half; or use any combination your crew prefers.)

Generously butter a 13×9 glass baking dish. Press dough into dish, making it mostly level.

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, or until top is lightly browned.

Cool for about 20 minutes to eat warm, or cool completely to get more perfectly sliced bars. No need to remove them from the pan for cooling.

You can cut these into 24 bars or 48 squares. (I cut the 13 inch side into 8 sections, and the 9 inch side into 3 sections, giving me 24 bars. Sometimes I’ll cut all those bars in half, if I’m trying to be reasonable.)

*NOTE: If you like your cookie bars very full of stuff, this dough can accommodate double the amount of fruit or chocolate. Go ahead and add 2 cups of chocolate chips if you’d like! Chocolate chips and dried tart cherries are an awesome combination, too (1/2 to 1 cup of each).