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Fudge Nut Bars – an oatmeal cookie base topped with chocolate fudge, lots of nuts, and then more oatmeal cookie baked on top! Gooey and so good!
I am kind of excited to share today’s recipe with you. It is one of those that is on a hand written recipe card, in my grandma’s handwriting, that has been passed down for years. My grandma passed away about 7 years ago, but I will forever be able to recognize her handwriting instantly. Recently my mom came with a box of recipes from my grandma and my great aunt, so I have lots to go through.
I remember these fudge nut bars or her caramel layer bars almost all the time when we were visiting. Unless it was the fall, then her Apple Bars would be made instead. But these have always been one of my favorites. I forgot about them until recently, so I was excited to make them again. They were so easy, I am a little worried how often they are going to happen.
The base of these fudge nut bars is a brown sugar oatmeal cookie. They are buttery, soft, and full of that brown sugar and vanilla flavor. Then you make a quick fudge by melting chocolate and sweetened condensed milk together. And of course you have to stir in the nuts…it is part of the name after all.
My grandma always used walnuts in this recipe when I was growing up, but you can use pecans or whatever your favorite is. Then you spread the chocolate over the cookie base, crumble the remaining cookie part over the top and bake. Your whole house will smell amazing! Unfortunately you have to let them cool most of the way before slicing into them, or you will have runny fudge every where.
But trust me, it is worth the wait! The gooey fudge with the oatmeal cookie, and then crunchy nuts. Oh my, so good! I am kind of drooling just thinking about them again. If you grew up in the Mid-West, there is a good chance you grew up with this recipe, I am pretty sure it was a standard at potlucks and family gatherings.
So get in the kitchen and relive your childhood, or make new memories with these fudge nut bars. You will be happy you did!
Fudge Nut Bars
Ingredients
Bars
- 1 cup butter, , softened
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 whole eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups old fashion oats
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
Fudge Layer
- 1 12 oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 2 Tbls butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup chopped nuts
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup nuts for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line a 13x9 inch baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In an electric stand mixer, beat butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Stir in oats, flour, baking soda, and salt until well combined.
- Press 2/3rds of mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
- In a microwave safe bowl melt together chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, butter and salt. Heat for 1 minute, stir until smooth. Heat at 15 second intervals if it needs more.
- Mix in vanilla and nuts. Stir until well combined. Pour over base mixture, spread evenly.
- Crumble remaining base mixture over the fudge layer. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup nuts.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until set and starting to turn golden brown.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Drool city, population me. Seriously. these are beyond words! Cannot get over how good they look!
H Erin, quick question. Can i use a mix of semi sweet and milk chocolate chips for the fudge?
Thank you.
Cheers
Cindy – definitely! It will just be a little sweeter, and that never is a problem for me 🙂
Thanks Erin. It’s baking in the oven as we “speak” and it smells amazing! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
I am going to a cookie/treat exchange this weekend. I am so excited to try these! They look amazing.
We definitely didn’t have any leftovers with these! Brought them to a party and they were the first to go. So good!
Love this idea and love how simple and easy this is. We love anything made into bars so this would be a huge hit in our home. Sounds yum.
I could go for a batch of these! Look amazingly delicious!
These would make a great holiday treat! 🙂
Mmmm that fudge! These look amazing…and dangerous!