Chocolate Oatmeal Peanut Butter Bars

I'm kinda proud of this picture!

I LOVE peanut butter!  We eat tons of it at our house.  David loves it too! My friend Tara says that David likes peanut butter so much because I ate it *like* everyday when I was pregnant!  I buy the non-hydrogenated kind, and if I ever find that  Sam's sells it I need to start buying it in bulk there!  (I hope to do a post about why not to eat hydrogenated food soon...in the meantime, don't eat hydrogenated, or partially hydrogenated food...trust me...it is horrible!!!!)  I have been making these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from Cooking for Seven alot lately.  In fact, I will be making them jumbo-sized next week for a benefit for a friend's 5 month old baby who just had heart surgery.  Cookies can be a bit tedious so I found this recipe from Taste of Home Baking Book and adapted it a bit.  Here is it with some tips how I would change it a little bit again to make it even better!

Chocolate Oatmeal Peanut Butter Bars

• 1/4 c. butter
• 1/4 c. non-hydrogenated peanut butter (next time, I think I will use 1/2 c. peanut butter and omit the butter altogether as these are just mildly flavored with peanut butter)
• 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. whole rolled oats
• 1/2 chocolate chips (I used a REALLY full 1/2 cup:)
• (dash sea salt; I didn't do this but next time I will...I think it will bring out the peanut butter flavor and smooth out the sweetness)

Cream butters and sugar together in large bowl until fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla. Mix in flour and oats. Pour into greased 8x8 pan.  Bake at 375° for 12-15 minutes.  Pull out onto cooling rack.  Sprinkle chocolate chips on top and allow to melt.  Spread melted chocolate chips over bars.  Eat while warm and lick your fingers!!!