(Younger daughter enjoying a snack bar on Christmas morning, together with Rocky)
I first found the recipe for these snack bars back when I was in college. They’re sort of like fudge in between oatmeal cookies, with pecans in both the fudge and oatmeal parts. They are one of my family’s two favorite Christmas desserts, the other one being Bohemian Kolaches.
Snack Bars
1 12-oz. package semi-sweet chocolate pieces
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
Butter or margarine, softened (1 cup + 3 Tablespoons)
2 cups pecans, chopped (or more if you really love pecans)
Vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1-3/4 cups packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups quick-cooking oats
3/4 teaspoon salt
In a double boiler over hot, not boiling, water (or in a heavy 1-quart saucepan over low heat), mix chocolate pieces, sweetened condensed milk, and 3 Tablespoons butter, stirring occasionally until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in 3/4 cups chopped pecans and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Remove from heat; keep warm. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 13”x9” baking pan. Into large bowl, measure flour, brown sugar, eggs, baking soda, salt, 1 cup butter, and 1 Tablespoon vanilla. With mixer at low speed, beat until well mixed, constantly scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Increase speed to medium and beat 3 minutes, occasionally scraping bowl. With spoon, stir in oats and remaining nuts until well blended. Press half of dough onto bottom of baking pan. Spread chocolate mixture over dough. Drop remaining dough by teaspoonfuls to cover chocolate mixture. Bake 30-35 minutes (the original recipe had a longer baking time, but this seems to do it for me in my glass baking pan). Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Invert pan on cutting board. Cut lengthwise into four strips; cut each strip into 12 pieces.
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