Oatmeal Pumpkin Breakfast Bars with Chocolate Chips

I don't know about you, but Quaker Oats granola bars are never enough to fill me up. Then I remembered these "breakfast bars" that Mum used to make. They weren't particularly delicious as they were very bran-y and had apricots in them, but the core concept was good. I browsed around on the web for a bit and finally found a recipe that would work as good base. I'm not a huge fan of peanut butter, so I decided to substitute pumpkin instead and make it more seasonal.

Oatmeal Pumpkin Breakfast Bars with Chocolate Chips
2 cups oats
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt

Cooling so that I can get them out of the pan without burning myself.

1 tsp baking powder
~1 tsp cinnamon
~1/2 tsp nutmeg
~1/4 tsp cloves
~1/4 tsp all-spice
~1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1) Combine all dry ingredients (oats through ginger). My measurements for the spices are approximate as I just added bit by bit until it smelled and looked right. You could add more or less according to your personal preference.

2) Beat together pumpkin, sugar, and oil. Add egg. Whisk in milk. Stir in vanilla.

3) Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts (saving some of the finest chopped ones to sprinkle on top).

4) Pour into two greased 4 1/2 inch by 8 1/2 inch loaf pans (or if you only have one loaf pan like me, into one loaf pan and another 1.5 qt baking dish). Sprinkle the remaining nuts on top.

5) Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Turn onto cooling racks to cool. Once cool, cut into bars (8 per loaf). Store in fridge.

So they just cooled enough for me to cut them and taste one. They are quite delicious. Not quite as pumpkin-y as they could be, but quite good ad much better than a store bought granola bar. You can bet I will be having these for a morning snack for the rest of the week!