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.
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Those look so good and easy too!
I just made these subbing ww pastry flour for the ap. I also used coconut sugar (slightly less and not packed) and they are real good. Tons of molasses flavor came through. Thank you 🙂
Looks scrumptious and healthy.. Amazing blog. Have tried few of your recipes. Thanks.
I can’t be without saying about pictures. Beautiful clicks.
Anu
Made these for my girls tonight after they played in the snow. Very good. Nothing but good reviews. Will be making again.
Got halfway through the recipe before I realised we were out of molasses and parchment paper and only had a 9×9, ended up subbing buckwheat honey and adding about 1/2tsp of cinnamon and 1/4tsp cloves because that’s how we usually make our chocolate chip cookies and they turned out great. My dad went to pick a piece up off the cooling rack, but in the description I said the words, “low fat” and he put it down… Came back later and he’d eaten 3, so I figure it’s a keeper.
Thanks for yet another delicious recipe!
‘nother note: I snuck one while it was still warm and I could definitely taste the “made with oil and applesause” flavour I’m used to in healthy/vegan baking, but when they cooled completely the spice flavours really came out and I honestly couldn’t taste it anymore. (not that it bothers me, but for more finicky family members *cough*dad*cough* it made a difference)
i love oatmeal – these look so delicious – you’ve convinced me to try these at home
http://www.yummei.com
Hey Katie!
I just discovered your website and I think it’s amazing! This is the first recipe I’ve tried and I really enjoyed it! Mine only looks a bit dark brown chocolaty because I used warm coconut oil and hot home-made apple sauce. Maybe I should use the cold versions next time. Anyway, it tasted so good, I actually think this is the best sweet & healthy recipe I’ve made. (and I’ve been cooking healthy for a few years now) So thank you very much!
I just made these for my studio for Valentine’s day! I doubled the recipe and used a 9×13. I used equal amounts of whole wheat, AP, and oat flour. I used half vegetable and half coconut oil. I also added a bit of cinnamon. They turned out wonderfully! Thank you Katie!!
That’s a nice picture of you Katie! These cookie bars look delicious and these bars sound just like the good portable afternoon snack.
I made the recipe and I didn’t have ALOT of the ingredients. I Did not have applesauce but I substituted a mashed banana, I also did not have molasses but I substituted honey. I put extra chocolate (my family hates too much chocolate, but who’s making the recipe here?) & 2 tbs of flaxseed.It came out very moist. Family loved it, will make it again.
I did these few days ago. They are perfect! 🙂
I replaced half of brown sugar with coconut sugar though. And used maple syrup.
I maybe should have used something else than olive oil (it gives this “weird” taste to it) and neither of my parents liked it. So I have to eat it all alone. But that’s not bad thing I guess… 😉
Thanks again Katie for awesome recipe! I had to show of your blog and my baking in my blog 🙂
I’m gonna make these with coconut sugar, gf flour blend, and pumpkin for applesauce. Should work, right? I don’t care if it tastes like fall. It’s still winter, after all!
Just made these. WOWZA!!! I love them! Nice crispy top, gooey centre. Amazing. Thanks for yet another winner, Katie =) I will blog about them.
Thank you for the nice recipes.
Does the coconut oil need to be solid or liquid?
Liquid.
I made these last night exactly according to your recipe, but they turned out super flat and seemed like they didn’t cook all the way. I even let them sit for quite a while afterwards but they didn’t change much. They are also much darker than the ones you photographed. The only difference I can think of is that I was having some issues with my brown sugar being clumpy, so it didn’t completely mix throughout the batter. Is this where I went wrong? I want to know for when I try to make these again!
The only thing I can think of is that maybe you accidentally omitted an ingredient or something. Have you checked out Katie’s FAQ page for troubleshooting at the top of her blog yet?
I know this is late, but with the color problem, you probably used dark brown sugar vs the light brown sugar that Katie probably used 🙂