Peanut butter oatmeal breakfast bars

I got home from work last Friday without any plans, and when I saw this recipe by Emily from Sweet to the Soul, baking sounded like the perfect thing to do with my Friday evening.

I've now made these breakfast bars twice, and both times they were great!  I didn't have any dark chocolate chunks either time, so I used semi-sweet chocolate chips instead.

The second time I made this recipe, I decided to try a mashed banana instead of the applesauce to add some banana-y flavor to the already great combination of peanut butter and chocolate.  The blending of the three flavors is awesome.  And if you haven't had a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich with slices of banana in between, you should go try that right now.  It's great, as are these cookies, I mean, breakfast bars!

 First, gather all of your ingredients.  I forgot to get the chocolate chips out for this photo, but don't worry, I had some.

Mix all of the dry ingredients together.

Mash the banana and then mix all of the wet ingredients together, including the brown sugar.  

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until just combined.  Then add the chocolate chips and fold in until mixed.

Plop spoonfuls of batter onto a greased (or at least covered with aluminum foil) baking sheet, flattening slightly.  Note that they don't spread much while baking.

Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350ºF.  They are done when you can stick a toothpick in them and withdraw it without any batter sticking to the toothpick.

Let cool.  Or eat them warm.  Just don't burn yourself.

And then if you want, take a picture of your masterpieces outside, where the lighting is better.

These were originally supposed to be cookies, but it was suggested that they would make a good breakfast.  So I'm calling them breakfast bars, because then I get to eat cookies for breakfast with no guilt.  :)


Ingredients:
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup mashed banana (or unsweetened applesauce)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips or chunks

Tools:
cookie sheet
aluminum foil
2 bowls
spoon
fork
measuring devices

Instructions:
1.  Stir the dry ingredients (rolled oats, flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder) together.
2.  Mash the banana.
3.  Mix the wet ingredients (brown sugar, banana, peanut butter, egg, vanilla).
4.  Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
5.  Mix in chocolate chips.
6.  Spoon cookies onto cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil, flattening slightly.
7.  Bake breakfast bars for 8-10 minutes at 350ºF.

This recipe originally came from Emily's blog Sweet to the Soul.  Be sure to check it out!

Enjoy!