Oatmeal Cookie Bars with Brown Butter and Salted Nutella Swirl

I've been really looking forward to today's recipe because there's nothing better than oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! Except it turns out there is something better, and it's these brown butter oatmeal cookie bars with a salted Nutella swirl.

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And if you like this oatmeal cookie bars recipe, try my Triple Chocolate Brownies, my Spiced Banana Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting, Biscoff Blondies with White Chocolate!

Oatmeal Cookie Bars Recipe

It's kind of a mouthful to say, but I wanted to put it all in the title so you know all the goodness you're getting in these oatmeal cookie bars! They start with a super easy one-bowl oatmeal cookie dough with brown butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

Then that dough is pressed into a pan and swirled with warmed Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread. Once baked, they're sprinkled with sea salt and cut into bars. It's an easy and decadent treat that gives you everything you could want!

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• Oatmeal Cookie Bars Recipe
• Can you use one minute oats in cookies or bars?
• Ingredients
• Equipment
• Related Recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Can you use one minute oats in cookies or bars?

We're going for texture here, so I wouldn't recommend it. Quick-cooking or instant oats will lose most of their texture while the bars are baking, and we want our oats will keep some of their structure and add great texture to our cookie bars to contrast with the creamy Nutella on top.

So what you'll want to look for are old-fashioned oats, usually for sale in the large cylindrical containers in the breakfast aisle of the supermarket. Or you can grab some online. Either way, the old-fashioned kind are the best for these oatmeal cookie bars! Now let's take a look at the rest of the ingredients we'll need:

Ingredients

• brown butter - this is what gives the oatmeal cookie bars that rich nutty flavor, and complements the hazelnut flavor in the Nutella perfectly! I use salted butter to make my brown butter, but if you use unsalted butter, just add a ½ teaspoon of salt to your dry ingredients. I'll give you instructions below, but also check out my full post on how to brown butter!
• brown sugar - you can use light or dark brown sugar, or do what I do and use a mix of both!
• eggs - your eggs should be room temperature so that they don't cool down your cookie dough too much.
• vanilla extract - it should be a good-quality pure vanilla extract, to make sure that you're really bringing out the delicious vanilla and nutty flavors in these oatmeal cookie bars!
• old-fashioned oats - as I mentioned above, definitely use old-fashioned oats to give your cookie bars more of that oatmeal texture!
• all-purpose flour - measure your flour by weight using a kitchen scale, or with the spoon-and-level method.
• baking powder - to give a little lift to these cookie bars.
• cinnamon - this is optional, but I love the flavor of a bit of spice along with the brown butter, chocolate, and hazelnut.
• Nutella - or you can use your favorite chocolate-hazelnut spread. We're heating it up a bit to give it a slightly pourable consistency, and then we'll swirl it into our cookie dough in the pan. And if you're a chocolate lover, check out my Hot Chocolate Mug Cake!
• flaky sea salt - also optional, but the saltiness on top of these cookie bars works so well with the sweet Nutella!
  

Equipment

Now that you've got your ingredients together, here's what you'll need to make these easy oatmeal cookie bars! You'll want to grab a 9x9 square baking pan, a whisk and rubber spatula, and a bowl! And you'll also need a sauté pan (light-colored, if possible) to brown your butter. And that's pretty much it!

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PIN this brown butter oatmeal cookie bars for later!

Last Updated on March 17, 2025 by Chenée Lewis