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Loaded Oatmeal Blondies marry cookie bars and oatmeal cookies – clean out your pantry and fill these bars with your favorite things!
BEST Oatmeal Cookie Bars
The best part about this oatmeal bar recipe are the mix-ins. You can add whatever you want! It’s an easy way to clean out your pantry, just throw in 2 cups total of any add-ins.
Bar cookies are just so much easier to make – just press them in the pan and bake. No need to chill dough, no need to worry about if they’ll spread too much. And if you’re like me and line the pan with foil, there is almost no clean up! #barcookiesforthewin
Ingredients in Oatmeal Bar Cookies
- Unsalted butter: softened
- Brown sugar: packed brown sugar – I prefer brown to white sugar
- Egg: I use large eggs
- Vanilla extract: to bring out the flavor
- Salt: just a pinch to enhance flavor
- Baking soda: for leavening (not baking powder)
- Ground Cinnamon: a must when using oats in your recipe
- All-purpose flour: be sure to use the right amount
- Quick Cooking Oats: you can also use old-fashioned oats
- Mix-ins: 2 cups of any add-ins you want! I love using chocolate chips, M&Ms, almonds, walnuts, pecans – any kind of nuts or candy!
How to make Oatmeal Cookie Bars
- Prepare- preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
- Mix- cream the brown sugar and butter in the bowl. Beat the eggs and vanilla until combined. Mix the salt, baking soda, cinnamon, flour and mix batter until combined. Stir in oats and your mix-ins.
- Transfer the cookie dough into the prepared baking dish
- Bake for about 25 minutes. Then, let it cool completely before slicing into squares
- Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 2 months!
FAQs
Bake for about 25 minutes. The center should be jiggly when they come out. It will finish baking as it cools.
Yes, you can! Freeze for up to 2 months and your oatmeal cookie bar will still be just as chewy good!
Getting close to the 25 minute mark, you should see the edge brown and rise to a crisp. The center should still be soft and jiggly. Remove to finish baking while it cools.
Loaded Oatmeal Blondies
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter , softened
- 1 ¼ cups (250g) packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup (124g) all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups Quick Cooking Oats
- 2 cups of mix-ins (see note)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13” pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. (Foil is optional; I like using it for easy removal.)
- Cream brown sugar and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. Mix in salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add flour and mix until combined. Stir in oats. Stir in your mix-ins.
- Press into prepared pan (dough is sticky, spray your hands with cooking spray to avoid it sticking to your hands). If you want, you can sprinkle a few more of your mix-ins on the top to make them look prettier (as I did with the mini M&Ms in the pictures).
- Bake for about 25 minutes. (Be careful not to overcook – the center will still be jiggly when you take these out of the oven and they will finish cooking and firming up as they cool.) Cool completely before slicing into squares.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 2 months.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- Chocolate Chips (White, milk, semi-sweet)
- Butterscotch or peanut butter chips
- M&Ms or Reese’s Pieces
- Toffee Bits
- Butterfinger Bits
- Chopped Nuts
- Chopped peanut butter cups
- Shredded Sweetened Coconut
Recipe Nutrition
Other Favorite Oatmeal Cookies:
- Chewy Oatmeal Cookies
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Toffee Oatmeal Cookies
- Oatmeal Cookie Magic Bars
Easy Oatmeal Cookie Bars – these are loaded oatmeal blondies – add anything you like – we call these kitchen sink cookies!
Last Updated on December 15, 2023
These are fantastic!
Wait, you’ve only been in your house for 2 years? How did I not know this?? And send me any cleaning-out-the-house and packing-up-everything tips you have… I’m SO not looking forward to doing that this summer. And being out of commission for a few weeks. That is the one bad thing about food blogging… But these bars? YUM! I need to try the oatmeal blondie combo sometime soon!
It’s been 2 weeks since I baked anything and I’m getting shaky from the withdrawals…
Want to come over tomorrow and use my kitchen? Or even tonight, if you want! I’m doing minimal baking, so it’s all yours! 😉 I hadn’t photographed anything for over a week until I shot yesterday’s frappuccino… It felt so weird at first, but thankfully it was more like remembering how to ride a bike than I thought!
You are definitely a genius, Dorothy! 😉 I love everything about these oatmeal blondies. I’m craving them now!!
I’ve been known to often claim that oatmeal is my enemy, because it’s healthy and I want my desert to be made entirely of chocolate. But then I usually go and bake something with oatmeal like 2 days later (my latest recipe involves oatmeal, too). What can I say, I change my mind a lot. Anyway, this recipe combines both, and I love it! I’m a huge fan of blondies, although I usually add peanut butter to mine. Call it an addiction 😉
I have an addiction too Justyna!! Thanks so much!
As soon as I saw this recipe in my email feed, I knew I had to make it. For my mix-ins, I used some plumped raisins and apricots, and five different types of chips. The result: Fabulous! Thanks so much for the recipe. The next time I make it (and there WILL be a next time), I think I’m going to try to figure out how to incorporate some Biscoff spread.
That would be awesome! I haven’t done it, but you could probably reduce the butter just a bit, and add the same amount of biscoff as butter. You may just need a little more flour to compensate, but it’s a bar cookie, so if it’s gooey it doesn’t matter so much!
Thanks for the advice regarding the Biscoff. I was thinking about the butter-Biscoff exchange, but the addition of extra flour hadn’t occurred to me.
After I posted my comment, I remembered that I also added a few sweetened chopped dates as part of my mix-ins. I keep them on hand for use in banana bread, and they’re pretty good in these blondies, too. Thanks again!!
Perfect way to clean out the pantry! Love that you combined blondies and oatmeal cookies!
You are a genius, Dorothy! But I’ve been telling you this for months! This marriage could be the most beautiful yet! I can’t wait to try them!
Oatmeal cookies and blondies in one? Perfect! I’m loving the oatmeal, butterscotch chips, and brown sugar combo!
WOW!!!!!!!!! oatmeal cookies married to blondies!!!!???? this can’t get any better!!!!!! I love the colorful m&ms atop these oatmeal blondies!!!!
I love these blondies! I love bars filled with lots of mix-ins, but never seem to make them. I’ll have to change that 😉
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