For March’s Secret Recipe Club, I was paired with Sarah of Fantastical Sharing. Sarah also happens to be the powerhouse behind Secret Recipe Club, plus she has a newborn and manages to post multiple times each week. Say what? (I have none of those things and struggle greatly with posting on a regular basis. haha) Not only is she a champion at life, she has tons of delicious recipes *and* is going to school to become a teacher (did I mention she has three kids!?). Sarah, you truly are an amazing, talented person!
Sarah has tons (and tons!) of delicious recipes like her: Fruit Nachos, Strawberry Coconut Baked Oatmeal, Cookie Dough Billionare Bars, and Peanut Butter Lover’s Rice Krispie Treats.
I really had a difficult time choosing what to make, but I ended up making a version of her Reese’s Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Bars. I made them gluten & egg free, mostly dairy free (I couldn’t find any dairy-free peanut butter cups) and reduced the sugar to 1 c.
I don’t like the Reese’s peanut butter baking chips (I find them too sweet and they sit weird in my stomach), so I wanted to substitute them with something else peanut butter-y. I thought that if I froze peanut butter in small chunks then it would stick together and not mix into the dough, but that totally did not work. Just an FYI – don’t expect peanut butter to freeze and stay as chunks. It literally melts two seconds after it was removed from the freezer. Perhaps non-natural peanut butter would have worked better? In the end I used extra chocolate chips.
The original recipe also said to use a 9″x13″ dish, but I think my dough was too stiff to try to spread it out that much, so I made it in a 9″ x 9″ pan. It turned out almost more like a cookie-cake instead of a bar, but it was still definitely tasty. Or should I say amazing? I had to keep them out of sight to prevent myself from eating them all!
Gluten & Egg Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Bars
3/4 c. Margarine (I used Fleischman’s Dairy Free)
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. peanut butter + and extra spoonful (I used crunchy natural peanut butter)
2 eggs/egg replacers
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. lemon juice
3/4 c. each of tapioca starch and sorghum flour
1/2 c. white rice flour
1 c. oatmeal
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 c. chocolate chips (I used Camino Bittersweet)
2 c. chopped peanut butter chocolates (I used a mixture of chopped peanut butter chocolate bars & more chocolate chips, but feel free to use chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter cups)
- Line a 9″ x 9″ pan with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350F.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flours, xathan gum, oatmeal, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Cream in peanut butter.
- Add egg replacer (or eggs one at a time) and beat until incorporated. Beat in vanilla extract and lemon juice
- Mix in flour mixture on low speed. Add ~2/3 of chocolate chips.
- Spread 2/3 of dough into the pan. Top with peanut butter chocolate/peanut butter cups.
- Spread remainder of batter on top and smooth out. Sprinkle remainder of chocolate chips on top.
- Bake for ~40 – 45 minutes until the edges are brown and the bars feel firm to the touch.
- Remove from oven and place on a wire rack.
- Cool completely before cutting. (I put mine in the freezer for a bit).
- Enjoy!
Thanks for all your recipes and all you do for the SRC Sarah!!
Please check out the rest of Group D’s recipes by clicking below!