My very own Chocolate Revel Bar: a sinful delight! ^_^

Image from DessertComesFirst

I have always shown interest in culinary arts, though I am not the one you can call an expert at it. I never had training through cooking classes and mostly do trial and errors with all the things that I cook or bake. With that, Chocolate Revel Bar is one of the many desserts that I really want to try baking. It is a rich, chewy chocolate-oatmeal bar-type cookies loaded with fudgy filling — an all time family favorite! ^_^ 

Since I have a lot of vacant time now, I decided to try it out. I used this recipe guide from AllRecipes and I can say that this one hit the shot! :)

Ingredients

• Oat mixture
• 3 cups quick cooking oats
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Chocolate filling

• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat together 1 cup butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla. In another bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, and 1 teaspoon salt; stir into butter mixture. Set aside.
3. In a medium saucepan, heat sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, 2 tablespoons butter, and 1/2 teaspoon salt over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in walnuts and 2 teaspoons vanilla.
4. Pat 2/3 of the oat mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread chocolate mixture evenly over the top, and dot with remaining oat mixture.
5. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in preheated oven. Let cool on a wire rack, then cut into bars.

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This is my finished product! ^_^

Instead of using walnuts, I used toasted local peanuts since it is cheaper and more readily available in the market. I really like the results and the oat mixture is just perfect! Though I would like to adjust the salt in the chocolate filling because it tastes a bit too salty for me. I think 1/4 tsp of salt will do just fine, or no salt at all for those who are "sweet tooth". Aside from that, I would probably decrease the thickness of the base oat mixture to around 1 cm, not that the thickness matters, it simply is my preference. :)

I am gonna try baking more of this in the future until I can perfect it. By that time, it will be a perfect gift idea for my family and friends.

~ingrid dl