12 Treats of Christmas: #6 Oh Henry Bars

The copy of the recipe I have for these treats came from my choir teacher, in her handwriting--you know--back before blogs, email, google searches, etc. Back when a recipe was shared on a recipe card. Even as far back as high school I was already collecting recipes. I don't remember exactly when or where my choir teacher would have served these to me, but I have held on to that recipe card for about 19 years, so that tells you how good these are.

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I love these, but apparently corn syrup is bad for you. I grew up in the middle of corn fields, so I understand the importance of purchasing and cooking with corn syrup every now and then. It's important to keep the corn farmers in business.

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On the subject of Oh Henry Bars...guessing they're supposed to taste like an Oh Henry! candy bar. I’ve never had one, and have never seen one in real life, so I don’t know if that is true. You can research Oh Henry! bars, because you’ve got too much time on your hands, and you’ll find that they have peanuts in them. No peanuts in this recipe--peanut butter? Yes. Peanuts? No. And that’s just fine with me, because these are perfect just the way they are.

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Now go and make yourself some. Or make your neighbors some. Or make your students some and see if they ask for the recipe…in which case you should write out by hand to make them feel special.

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OH HENRY BARS

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2 cups oatmeal

¼ c. corn syrup

1 stick butter or margarine

½ c. brown sugar

4 oz. chocolate chips

2 tablespoons peanut butter

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1. Cream corn syrup, butter, and brown sugar together.

2. Add oatmeal, mix thoroughly. Try not to eat the whole bowl of batter now…but you definitely should taste it!

3. Spread mixture in 8 x 8 pan…or double every ingredient and throw it in a 9x13.

4. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes—make sure you bake until bubbling around the edges. If you don’t bake it long enough, the bars fall apart. Keep an eye and don’t be afraid to go a minute or two over the 10 minute mark.

5. Cool.

6. Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter together. If you’re doing it in the microwave, make sure to stir frequently.

7. Spread chocolate/peanut butter mixture over the top of the oatmeal crust.

8. Cool until set.

I like to keep the bars refrigeratated until I’m going to cut them. This helps the bars not fall apart or crumble.

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A nice way to serve them (because they’re kind of gooey when room temperature) would be to cut them up when they’re really cool and place them in individual cupcake papers on a serving tray.