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Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

By Katie HigginsUpdated Aug 24, 2017

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True story:

I was once on national television… in my underwear. 😕

It was when I was 5 years old, on a popular children’s show similar to Sesame Street. The goal of the segment was to teach young children how to get dressed by themselves: this was in the early 90s, therefore footage is thankfully not immortalized online.

Possibly even more fun than the filming process was when the show aired and everyone reconvened for a viewing party. One child’s mother brought in three plates of gooey chocolate chip cookie bars for the occasion, and not a single person left that day without having asked for the recipe. The bars would become a staple in my childhood home for many years afterwards.

Today’s recipe is a healthy makeover of those addictive chocolate chip cookie bars.

I played around to find the perfect amount of applesauce to lower the fat, calories, and sugar while still maintaining the bars’ seductively gooey texture. The subtly-strong flavor of the surprise ingredient—molasses!—takes these bars completely over the top.

They are sure to win you over!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups spelt or all-purpose flour (180g) (oat flour works; the texture is just a bit gummier)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup rolled oats (20g)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar or date sugar (90g)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup to 1 cup chocolate chips, depending on how chocolatey you want the bars to be
• 1/2 cup vegetable or coconut oil (80g)
• 1/2 cup applesauce (120g)
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract (9g)
• pinch stevia, or 2 tbsp sugar of choice
• 3 tbsp blackstrap or regular molasses (43g)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line the bottom of an 8×8 pan with parchment paper, then set aside. In a mixing bowl, stir together the first 6 ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together all liquid ingredients, then pour wet over dry and stir to form a batter. Spoon into the prepared pan. Bake 25 minutes. Makes 15-24 squares, depending on how large you cut them. (The ones in the photos are cut from 24.) I love the unique molasses flavor in these bars, but you can always substitute pure maple syrup or agave or honey (vegans don’t use honey) if you’d prefer.

*View Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars Nutrition Facts*

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