Monster cookie bars- no flour!

By jojomail1

I will note that this recipe calls for both quick oats and old-fashioned (regular) oats. You could use all quick, but I have found that using all quick oats results in a tough/dense cookie bar. Splitting the oats results in a soft and utterly delicious cookie bar. Another tip is to use a pizza cutter to cut these into squares. I do that every time and it’s so easy!

Don’t be alarmed if the batter is hard to spread into the cookie sheet. It takes me several minutes to work it and manuever it to fit in the pan. I spray my hands with cooking spray and it seems to always help.

Ingredients

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups quick oats
• 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups mini m&m's (save some for the top, if desired)
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Preparation

Step 1

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a cookie sheet by lining it with parchment paper.
In large bowl, combine brown sugar, granulated sugar, peanut butter, and butter. With a hand-held blender, mix until pale in color and combined.
Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Blend together.
Add in the oats and baking soda. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, mix by hand until combined.
Add in the m&m's (reserving some for appearance when done cooking, if wanted) and the chocolate chips. Stir together well until combined.
Dump onto your parchment lined cookie sheet and spread out. This will take several minutes, but it can be done.
Bake for 18-20 minutes. The edges will be lightly browned and the middle will still look pale and underdone, but it will finish baking as it cools. You do not want to over-bake these!