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Happy Cookies (aka rolled oat cookie bars topped with chocolate and nuts)

Up your cookie game with these Happy Cookies (rolled oat cookie bars topped with chocolate and nuts) from www.drugstoredivas.net. They are THE BEST cookie you will ever make!

These Happy Cookies are my favorite cookie recipe of all time. Seriously. Everyone I’ve made them for have absolutely fallen in love with them. What did I name these named Happy Cookies? Because everyone who eats these cookies just gets happy. Really, really happy. Plus, Happy Cookies sounds a lot better than rolled oat cookie bars topped with chocolate and nuts.

If you’re going to someone’s house, it’s a lot easier to say, “I’m bringing Happy Cookies” instead of “I’m bringing rolled oat cookie bars topped with chocolate and nuts.”

And, if you know me, they’re easy too. I can’t do anything that’s super difficult or time consuming. These are neither of those. Plus, there’s a very good chance you have all the ingredients at home. So if you want to make these on a whim, there’s a great chance that you can.

Happy Cookies (aka rolled oat cookie bars topped with chocolate and nuts)

What You’ll Need:

What You’ll Do:

Pre-heat your oven to 400.

Mix the rolled oats and brown sugar together in a large bowl, making sure to break up clumps of the brown sugar.

Melt the butter, corn syrup, vanilla extract, and salt together in a medium saucepan over medium heat.

Stir constantly as it’s melting.

Pour the butter mixture over the oat mixture.

Stir until combined.

Pour the mixture into a 9×9 non-stick pan.

It’s a lot easier to use your hands to make sure that the oat mixture is spread evenly into the pan that way.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

Take the pan out of the oven when the edges are a caramel color.

The batter will still be bubbly. That’s okay.

Top the oats with the chocolate chips. You should be okay with 1.5 cups of chocolate chips, but more chocolate chips works too.

Put the pan back in the oven for about a minute until the chocolate chips start to melt.

Use an icing spreader to spread the chocolate evenly on top of the oats.

Chop the walnuts and spread them on top of the melted chocolate.

Use the pack of a spoon, or your fingers, to push the chopped walnuts into the melted chocolate. If you don’t do this, the walnuts won’t stick and will fall off when you serve them.

Let the cookie bars cool completely before cutting and serving.

Tips For Making Happy Cookies (aka rolled oat cookie bars topped with chocolate and nuts)

I started adding a lot of “side note” sections in the recipe, so I felt like it would just be a lot easier to make a tips section down here.

Use rolled oats instead of quick oats. Quick oats are thinner and will cook, well, quicker than rolled oats. That’s the appeal of them. For these Happy Cookies, though, you don’t want the oats to be thinner because the oats make up the entire bottom layer of the cookie bars. If they’re too thin, the cookie bars won’t have the right oats to chocolate ratio.

Cut the butter into chunks when you’re melting it into the saucepan. The increased amount of surface area helps the butter melt faster than just putting the entire stick into the saucepan. And since you’re melting the butter along with light corn syrup, you want it to melt faster rather than slower. I’m not sure that the corn syrup would burn if the butter melted slower and the corn syrup was on the heat longer. But why risk it?

When you’re putting the oats mixture into the pan, flatten the oats mixture with your hands. And really make sure you push it down compactly. If you don’t really compact the oats, there is a very good chance that they will crumble while you’re eating them. Which doesn’t alter the taste of the Happy Cookies at all, but it does sort of ruin the eating experience.

When you pull the oats out of the oven, the mixture will still be bubbly. That’s perfect. It will feel like the oats are still baking and need more time, but I promise you, this is the right time to pull them out. If you leave them in longer, the oats will harden and will taste so dry when you’re eating the cookie bars. And there’s no way to save these Happy Cookies if that happens.

I use an icing spreader to spread the chocolate on top of these. I also use one every time I make chocolate bark. Using an icing spreader is a lot easier than using the back of spoon to spread the melted chocolate evenly because it doesn’t leave any divots and valleys like a spoon does. If you don’t have one, you could use a butter knife to spread the chocolate. If you do, just be conscious of the tiny teeth on one side of the butter knife. Those could leave small marks all across your melted chocolate.

And, a similar tip for the walnuts. Push the walnuts into the chocolate with either the back of a spoon or your fingers. You want them to really get stuck into the melted chocolate. If the walnuts just rest on top of the chocolate, they’ll fall off the Happy Cookies either when you’re cutting the cookie bars or when you’re eating them. And if all the walnuts are left behind, that sort of defeats the purpose of using walnuts in the first place.

Use the walnut dust. After you chop the walnuts, there will be a walnut dust left behind. Don’t toss it. Dust that on top of the melted chocolate. You don’t have to worry about pushing that down with your fingers or the back of a spoon because it’s so small. It will just adhere into the melted chocolate.

Yield: 16 Cookies

Happy Cookies (aka rolled oat cookie bars topped with chocolate and nuts)

Up your cookie game with these Happy Cookies (rolled oat cookie bars topped with chocolate and nuts) from www.drugstoredivas.net. They are THE BEST cookie you will ever make!

Up your cookie game with these easy to make Happy Cookies (rolled oat cookie bars topped with chocolate and nuts).

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Additional Time 2 minutes
Total Time 19 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 1/4 cup light corn syrup
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1.5 to 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 to 3/4 cups walnuts

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 400 F.
  2. Mix the rolled oats and brown sugar together in a large bowl.
  3. Melt the butter, corn syrup, vanilla extract, and salt together in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
  4. Stir constantly as it’s melting.
  5. Pour the butter mixture over the oat mixture.
  6. Stir until combined.
  7. Pour the mixture into a 9×9 non-stick pan.
  8. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.
  9. Take the pan out of the oven when the edges are a caramel color.
  10. Top the oats with the chocolate chips. 
  11. Put the pan back in the oven for about a minute until the chocolate chips start to melt.
  12. Use an icing spreader to spread the chocolate evenly on top of the oats.
  13. Chop the walnuts and spread them on top of the melted chocolate.
  14. Use the pack of a spoon to push the chopped walnuts into the melted chocolate. 
  15. Let the cookie bars cool completely before cutting and serving.

Nutrition Information

Yield

16

Serving Size

1

Amount Per Serving Calories 299Total Fat 18gSaturated Fat 10gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 7gCholesterol 15mgSodium 43mgCarbohydrates 38gFiber 3gSugar 28gProtein 3g

Want more cookie recipes?

Unicorn Poop Meringue Cookies
Italian Rainbow Cookies
Pecan Sandies
Sugar Swirl Cookies
Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Would you try these Happy Cookies (aka rolled oat cookie bars topped with chocolate and nuts)? Be sure to let us know in the comments.

Michelle from Weekend Craft

Wednesday 12th of November 2014

These cookies would definitely make me happy!

Miz Helen

Tuesday 11th of November 2014

These do look like Happy Cookies! Hope you are staying warm and cozy in this cold weather and thanks so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday. Come Back Soon! Miz Helen

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