Oatmeal Chocolate Butterscotch Bars-The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap

The first week of December found boxes and boxes of cookies traveling here and there and everywhere.  It was time for the 4th annual Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap and bloggers were sending and receiving packages of cookies all week. I received cookie packages from:

Carrie at The Frugal Foodie Mama sent  these delicious shortbread cookies.

Susan at theFoodette sent these adorable Santa boot cookies.  I am anxious to see if these have cardamom in them.

Dixya at Food Pleasure and Health sent these little beauties.  (I forgot to tell hubby not to eat these until I could take a picture, so there were only three left.)

 
The cookies I made went to Lindsey Farr, American Heritage Cooking, Sara Lemert, FoodieAnonymous, and Mary Bolster Eat Drink and Be Mary. I made little reusable treat bags to sent the cookies in.

I chose one of my favorite easy and versatile bar cookie recipes, Oatmeal Chocolitas.  This was originally a Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest recipe.  I renamed it Oatmeal Chocolate Butterscotch Bars to give a better description of the bars for this post. This is a four layer cookie with a bottom layer of oatmeal streusel, a layer of chips, a layer of ice cream topping, and another layer of oatmeal streusel.

The middle layers can be any combination of chips and topping such as butterscotch or peanut butter chips with chocolate topping, chocolate chips with caramel topping, white chocolate chips with chocolate topping, chocolate chips with marshmallow topping, caramel chips with apple cinnamon topping or just about any combination you can think up.

Oatmeal Chocolate Butterscotch Bars
from a Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest
2 c. flour
2 c. quick-cooking rolled oats
1 1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 1/4 c. butter or margarine, melted (I always use butter)
1 c. semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
1 (12 oz.) jar butterscotch ice cream topping
3 T. flour

In a large mixer bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and salt.  Mix on low for 1 minutes to combine.  Add melted butter and mix at low speed until mixture is crumbly.  Press half of crumb mixture (about 2 1/2 c.) into bottom of a foil-lined 10x15-inch baking pan.  Set remaining crumb mixture aside  Bake oatmeal mixture at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.  Meanwhile mix butterscotch ice cream topping and flour.  Remove oatmeal base from oven.  Sprinkle warm base with chocolate chips.  Pour topping mixture evenly over the chips.  Sprinkle with remaining oatmeal mixture.  Pat down lightly.  Return to oven and bake 16 to 22 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool completely.  Cut into 48 bars.

Thanks to Lindsay of Love and Olive Oil and Julie of The Little Kitchen for hosting the swap each year.  Thanks also to this year’s sponsors:  Oxo Good Grips, Dixie Crystals, California Olives and Brownie Brittle who matched the bloggers contributions so a little over $12,000 was earned for Cookies for Kids' Cancer.  566 bloggers from 7 countries participated in this years swap.  That is a lot of cookies.  Oxo again sent a wonder little gift, and this year it was this great Decorating Bottle Kit.  I dont usually make fancy, decorated cookies, but with this kit, I may just give it a try.

If you missed the cookie swap this year, but think you might like to participate in 2015 you can sign up here to be put on the list to receive the cookie swap information when it becomes available next year.

Come back Friday for a link-up to all the cookies in this year's swap.