Oatmeal Butterscotch Bars

Enjoy these delicious Oatmeal Butterscotch Bars as a dessert or sweet snack. Perfect with a cup of coffee or a glass of milk. Kids and adults love them!

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If you are a fan of the delicious caramel-y, brown sugar flavor of butterscotch, you are going to love these bars!

Packed with quick oats, butterscotch chips and a delicious cookie base, Oatmeal Butterscotch Bars will quickly become a favorite with everyone who tries them.

They bake up crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. Their taste and texture is somewhat reminiscent of a granola bar. So good!

How to make Oatmeal Butterscotch Bars

These bars begin like so many traditional cookie recipes – butter, brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla and eggs.

Those ingredients all get beaten together until light and fluffy. You can do this using either a hand mixer or stand mixer. You could do it by hand in a pinch, but be prepared for your arm to get very tired!

Next, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and then pour into the butter mixture in 2 or 3 batches, stirring to combine after each addition.

Finally, pour in the oats and butterscotch and fold in by hand.

Once your batter is all mixed together, spread and press it into a 15 x 10 jelly roll / sheet cake pan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, until golden brown and set in the middle.

What if I don’t have a 15 x 10 jelly roll pan?

No worries! There are a few options for you if you don’t have a classic jelly roll pan available.

You can bake the bars in a 13 x 9 casserole dish. You’ll need to add about 5 minutes to the baking time though, so make sure you keep an eye on them.

You can also press the dough into 2 smaller baking pans, or press into a larger one and eyeball a 15 x 10 rectangle. I’ve done that a few times myself and the consistency of the dough makes it pretty easy to do.

Can I make these bars ahead of time?

You can make Oatmeal Butterscotch Bars in advance, but you’ll need to be mindful with how you store them. If they’re not stored properly, they tend to harden and dry out.

I’ve found that storing them in a plastic bag or in a plastic storage container with a tight-fitting lid works best. When stored this way, they usually stay fresh for 3-5 days before the texture starts to diminsh.

You can also freeze the baked bars. To do that, let them cool completely before cutting into individual bars. Then, place the in a single, flat layer in a plastic freezer. I usually need two bags to store the full recipe.

To use from frozen, set the number of bars desired on a plate and let come to room temperature before enjoying.

If you’re in a hurry, you can warm the bars in the microwave for about 5 seconds per bar.

How to customize this recipe

There are plenty of additions, deletions and substitutions you can make to make these Oatmeal Butterscotch Bars your own.

I like to mix them up a little bit each time I make them, so I encourage you to have fun with the recipe as well.

Here are some ideas to try:

• Cut the butterscotch chips in half or remove completely and replace with an equal measure of: chocolate chips, white chocolate chip, peanut butter chips, M&Ms, raisins, dried cranberries or dried cherries
• Reduce the oats by 1 cup to create more of a cookie-bar texture
• Swap 1/2 cup of butter for 1/2 cup of peanut butter

Another idea to try is to warm a bar for a few seconds, top with a heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of butterscotch syrup. So good!

Other recipes you might enjoy:

• Oatmeal Breakfast Bars
• Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies
• Chocolate Raisin Bars
• Oatmeal Cream Pie Cookie Cake