Recipe #1 - Oat Bars.

I thought I'd start off easy with my recipe goal this year and make something that requires little-to-no cooking.  Yes, that is me being a little bit lazy but I figured it would be better to use up the ingredients in my cupboards first!  And when you have a bunch of oats, chocolate chips and peanut butter, you make oat bars.  Naturally.

This is all it takes to make yourself some truly scrumptious oat bars.  They're not super healthy for you, granted, but I'm sure you could make them healthier if you substituted some of the ingredients.  I used about a cup of peanut butter, half a cup of honey, half a cup of butter, two cups of oats, a cup of chocolate chips and a cup of coconut flakes.

The first thing I did was melt together the peanut butter, honey and butter.  I did this over a low heat while stirring as this stuff can burn pretty easily, so keep your eye on it.  Once it had all combined into a smooth mixture, I took it off of the heat and dumped in my chocolate chips.

I was convinced they weren't all going to melt as the mixture wasn't all that hot but after some perseverance and lots of stirring, they all melted beautifully.  Then it was time to add the oats and the coconut!

The mixture does get pretty sticky and I had to dig down deep to make sure that it was all thoroughly combined.  This would be a good point to add some chopped fruit or nuts if that tickles your fancy.

I pressed the mixture into two little Pyrex dishes, about four inches by six inches roughly.  The layer was about half an inch thick.  I left them in the fridge for a few hours to set and then cut each rectangle into 8 bite-size pieces.  It would be wise to grease your dish lightly before you put the mix in; I didn't and it took a fair bit of wiggling and prying to get them both out in one piece!

They are very, very rich.  You only need one little piece to feel satisfied, too much and you'd start to feel sick!  They taste lovely, I'll definitely be making them again only next time I'll be putting in lots of dried fruit (I think apricots and cranberries would really suit it).  I'm so pleased with how they turned out and they've been a big hit with S!

Have you made anything delicious this weekend?  I hope that whatever your plans, you're having a wonderful time.

Love, K.