Oatmeal Fudge Bars

Okay...I was lazy today...but at the end of a long baking day I realized that I still had not made my son's usual weekend request...chocolate chip cookies. I thought, maybe a quick cookie bar similar to a chocolate chip cookie recipe would suffice. So I dug into a stack of recipe books left for me to look at by a dear friend. This recipe is from the "Insurance Women of Portland - roses and raindrops" cookbook edition 1974-1975 submitted by Ede Dunn. Ms. Dunn...thank you very much for coming to my rescue...this late Sunday evening.

Oatmeal Fudge Bars
(believe it or not...I don't have a 9 x 9 pan so I am forced to double all the recipes. This does double very well. I am giving you the version for a 9 x9 pan even though my pics show the double batch)

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp soda
• 2 cups quick cooking oatmeal

Chocolate Mixture

• 1 package chocolate chips (or in my case...equiv. block chocolate)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
  
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Cream eggs, sugar, shortening and vanilla. Add flour and stir in oatmeal. Divide batter in half. Pat half mixture in 9 x 9 pan. Add the following chocolate mixture which has been melted together "in top of double boiler"...... I just put the chocolate in the micro for 1 minutes and then stirred in the butter, condensed milk, salt and vanilla. (I did not have chocolate chips but instead had a couple of bricks of Callebaut chocolate which I had purchased for a Christmas recipe coming up...oh well.)

After spreading chocolate mixture over the first layer, pat remaining mixture over top. (Now this is not as easy as it sounds. So...you can wait til the chocolate is completely cold and it should be easier. However, if you are impatient like me...simply crumble the mixture evenly over the top so that no chocolate shows through. Then pat down evenly until all combine to make a solid top layer.)

Bake at 350 for 25 min. Cool completely before cutting.