Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

Another comfort food for the Robber which he requested that his mother make for him when she came out to visit (she did make these). Nana used to make these a lot when the Robber was a wee lad, but had to stop when her seventh child had severe nut allergies. Still the Robber remembers them fondly, and jumped at the opportunity to have these in our non-nut restricted kitchen.

Ingredients:

For the bars:
1 C. flour
1 C. quick oatmeal
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 C. butter or margarine
1/2 C. sugar
1/2 C. brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 C. peanut butter
1/4 C. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 package (2 cups) chocolate chips

For the frosting:
1/4 C. powdered sugar
2 T. peanut butter
2-3 T. milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a 9 x 9 glass pan.

2. In a small mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, baking soda and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in eggs, peanut butter, milk and vanilla. Stir in the combined dry ingredients by hand.

4. Spread mixture in prepared pan and bake for 18-20 minutes. When bars are freshly out of the oven, sprinkle the chocolate chips on top and spread evenly as the chips melt.

5. For the frosting, combine all ingredients and blend thoroughly. Drizzle over the top of the melted chocolate and swirl while still melted if desired.