Cream-Filled Oat Bars

Mirj's Note:

I found this in a local newspaper. I tried it out on a night when my teenage daughters had a house full of friends over for a movie. I managed to grab a piece before the dish was grabbed and the bars inhaled. Delicious!

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 24

• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon rind
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats or 1 cup oats
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter or 1/2 cup margarine, softened
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375°F.
2. Grease 9 x 9-inch square pan.
3. Mix milk, lemon peel and lemon juice until thickened.
4. Reserve.
5. Mix remaining ingredients until crumbly.
6. Press half of the crumbly mixture in pan.
7. Bake about 10 minutes or until set.
8. Spread milk mixture over baked layer.
9. Sprinkle remaining crumbly mixture on milk mixture.
10. Press gently into milk mixture.
11. Bake about 20 minutes or until edge is golden brown and center is set but soft.
12. Cool completely.

Reviews

[silver_rainbow]

Okay, this was just divine! I love anything sour, including lemons. If someone says "Go suck a lemon," I take them seriously! :-) The crusts were fairly easy to make, even though I've only made a few. I guess that shows I'm getting better. (Pretty soon I'll be a professional! ;-) LOL!) There was no lemon peel in the fridge, so I used lime peel, which gave it a speckled look, but it still tasted fine. I cut it into bars about one inch square, because it was so rich. (Mmmmmmmm!) Thanks, Mirj!

[smoke alarm jr]

A rich, sweet dessert with a bit of kick from the lemon flavoring! The filling was almost like cheesecake and oooohhhh sooooo divine! Impressive-do not hesitate to make. note- I put a 4"x4" square in the freezer to experiment with how well these froze. The experiment failed for the tea kettle was on and they never got a chance to unthaw! =)

[stormylee]

I have a recipe that is almost identical to this, by the name of Lemon Creme Bars! The only difference is that it uses 1/2 cup of lemon juice and no peel for the filling; I usually use 1/2 cup of juice plus 1 ts of lemon peel. It makes the filling a tad more tart, which I think goes wonderfully with the sweet crust. Something to try if you worry this might be too sweet! :-) I prefer to reserve only about 1/2 cup of crust crumbs to sprinkle on top. I also usually take the lazy route and just assemble the whole thing at once and bake for 30 minutes... Delicious stuff!