Retro Chocolate Bars...

You know how you can hear a song on the radio or Pandora and it transports you to an earlier time and place? Like when I hear Carole King sing, "You've Got A Friend," I am immediately transported back to the Junior High cafeteria! The cafeteria sound system played a lot of Carole King...Rod Stewart...Creedence Clearwater Revivial in my day! Well, certain recipes do that to me too. 

One day at lunch in Junior High, a friend of mine offered me a cookie from her lunch...a chocolate no bake cookie to be exact. I fell in love! I called her when I got home from school so she could read me the recipe and made my first batch. Imagine my surprise when I married my husband and found out that this cookie was one of his favorites too! It's one of those cookies that is hard to eat just one so I don't make them very often these days.

I was scrolling through Pinterest the other day and a recipe title jumped out at me...Best Ever Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake Bars (Clean Eating). Could this be? Could this really be like the old no bake recipe, except in a bar form? Sure enough, as I read through the ingredients and looked at the picture, the bars were just like the cookie, except for a couple ingredients swaps...I guess to make them fit the "clean eating" claim. So, I'm feeling a bit nostalgic today and decided to give the recipe a try. It's easy...quick...doesn't require you to turn on the oven on a warm day..and it must be nutritious since it has oatmeal in it...right?

Best Ever Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake Bars

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup coconut oil (you can substitute 1/2 cup butter)

2 cups old fashioned oatmeal

1 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt peanut butter, honey, and coconut oil over medium-low heat in a saucepan. Removed from heat once it's melted together and add in the oats, coconut, chocolate chips, nuts, and vanilla. Stir together until the chocolate is completely melted.

Pour into a 9 X 13 pan and cool in the fridge. When the mixture is hardened, cut into bars and store in refrigerator or freezer. Yum!

If you are anywhere near my age and want to be transported back to the 70's...make some Chocolate No-bake bars and listen to a little Carole King...it'll do you good. Happy Friday, friends!