If you love the combination of coconut and chocolate, as well as the goodness of oatmeal and the stickiness of a caramel; then you’ll love these bars I came up with a few weeks ago.

This recipe contains no flour or eggs but there is dairy involved. I toasted some oatmeal and ground half of the quantity into a crumb texture. I also used crushed puffed rice and this became the base of the layered bar. I added freshly grated coconut and chocolate chips in layers.The gooey “magic” glue which holds everything together is sweetened condensed milk. To add crunch there is a layer of flaked almonds. During the baking time, all of the elements meld perfectly together to form a layered confection of tropical flavors.

A little guilty pleasure that is great for an afternoon delight or mid-morning pick me up!  I hope you try these CocoNut Choco-Oat Bars soon.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup Old-Fashioned Oatmeal, toasted

1 cup puffed rice cereal,  or puffed quinoa cereal, crushed lightly

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1  4 oz stick butter, melted

1 tin sweetened condensed milk

3/4 cup shredded coconut

6 oz  semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

METHOD

In a frying pan on low heat, lightly brown the oatmeal. Remove from pan and set aside to cool. Take 1/2 cup of toasted oatmeal and blend in a food processor or blender to make crumbs. Add the crushed puffed rice cereal or quinoa cereal to the oatmeal and combine. Add the salt and cinnamon and mix together well.

Lightly brown almond slices. Set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 9″x 9″ pan, pour melted butter.

Sprinkle oatmeal and cereal crumbs mixture over the base of the pan.

Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over the crumb base. Top with chocolate chips, coconut and almonds distributing layers evenly. Press down gently to make the layers compact.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until light golden brown.

Allow to cool before cutting bars.

Makes 16 bars.