Oh Henry Bars are pure magic. A crunchy granola type base is covered with a combination of peanut butter and chocolate. It’s a recipe that’s as simple and uncomplicated as childhood. Sweet, salty, crunchy, creamy goodness that’s ready in minutes. They travel well for bake sales, potlucks, and picnics.
Ingredients needed: old fashioned or quick oats – not instant, sugar, brown sugar, butter, peanut butter, chocolate chips
Table of Contents
Oh Henry Bars and Other Recipes We Grew Up On
I have my mother’s old Better Homes and Garden’s cookbook, circa 1939… or something like that. It’s crazy old.
It’s got a lot of vintage recipes, the stuff I grew up on, but there is something I like better. Stuffed in the pages is a treasure trove of papers that Mom cut, collected, and procured for seven decades.
There are recipes that were my grandmother’s, aunts’, and ancestors unknown. There are recipes from brands that no longer exist and brands that are still around.
There is the apple cake recipe I tore out of Seventeen Magazine in 1972, the best brownie recipe ever is nothing but a note scrawled on a Howard Johnson’s napkin… Memories. Memories with all of them.
This recipe for Oh Henry Bars is in there, faded, stained, and kind of frazzled looking but it’s appearance attests to the popularity of the recipe, don’t you think? I mean, I am hesitant to try recipes that are totally clean and new looking.
Bar Cookies and Growing Up in the 60’s
So many recipes from my childhood are becoming popular again – like they’re being pulled through the decades by some weird time machine.
And they are, thanks to the popularity of shows set in the 1960s. Bar cookies were super popular back then because they were so easy to throw together – presumably so you could get back to your soaps faster.
All of this Mad Men nostalgia has kicked up my own nostalgia into high gear. I had never realized how really cool it was to grow up in the 1960s until I saw my childhood replayed once a week on the Wonder Years. Then other shows set in the 1960s and 1970s began to appear and I realized how really magical it all was… because it really was like that.
When I watch Mad Men, or Wonder Years, or even That 70’s Show I find myself pulled back a couple of decades. It’s how it really was – at least how I remember it.
So, I am about to celebrate my 55th birthday and I can’t help but think about all of the birthdays that have come and gone in the meantime.
Back in the 60s you dressed up for everything. It must have been my 4th birthday, or maybe my 5th, when I can remember being so angry at my mom because I had to come inside, in the middle of a game of Rat Patrol, y’all, and get my hair curled in ringlets a la Shirley Temple.
And a dress. I had to put on a dress because it was my birthday and Mom had planned a party, in the back yard as I recall.
We didn’t have the kinds of parties then that kids do now. My mom made a cake (from a mix) slapped some frosting and candles on it and bought a carton of ice cream.
I think there was balloons. There were no clowns or ponies, there was no gift registry at Toys R Us, and there was not much other than pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. It was great.
More Cookie Recipes You Might Remember
Vintage recipes have a way of bringing back our memories with each nibble. I love making the dishes that I loved as a child and sharing them, along with the memories that go with them, with my kids and grandkids.
Here are some of my favorites –
- Buckaroons are butterscotch and oatmeal cookies that are crunchy, crispy, and chewy. They’re the perfect lunch box cookie as far as I’m concerned.
- No Bake Haystack Cookies are so cute for Easter but they’re yummy any time! You don’t even have to bother making the nests.
- Peanut Butter Molasses cookies are the real deal. Just add milk.
- Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies with pecans should be a regular addition to the cookie jar. I mean, how long can you go with out a good chocolate chip cookies?
- Molasses Cookies are the best thing ever when they’re right – chewy, slightly spicy, crisp edges… Trust me, these are right!
- Hoosier Peanut Bars weren’t as well known as Oh Henry Bars, at least not where I lived but the crispy meringue on that salty sweet bar was addictive.
- Coconut Cranberry Blondie Bars aren’t as traditional as the rest of this collection but they sure are good!
And these Knock You Naked Blondies from I Am Baker look amazing.
You May Need…
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When you show up at the next church potluck with these Oh Henry Bars stacked inside this retro carrier you’re going to feel just like Mrs. Cleaver… or Aunt Bee. Hey, party like it’s 1965, right?
Oh Henry Bars Recipe
These Oh Henry bars are quintessentially the 60s. They are simple, easy to make, with ingredients you probably have on hand. They aren’t stuffed with Oreos, bacon, or the flavor du jour but just wholesome goodness.
Most of the bar cookies from back then are exactly that. Easy. Simple. Straightforward.
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars!
Oh Henry Bars! Recipe
Print Add to CollectionIngredients
- 4 cups oats, , old fashioned was used in this recipe but quick will work. Don’t use instant.
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup melted unsalted butter
- 6 ounces chocolate chips
- 1 cup peanut butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Grease 13" x 9 ” pan.
- Mix oats, sugar and brown sugar in large bowl.
- Pour melted butter over and mix well.
- Press into pan firmly and bake for 20 – 25 minutes.
- Cool.
- Melt chocolate and peanut butter together stirring to blend.
- Spread over cooled cookie base.
- Chill 1 hour…IF you can wait that long.
- Cut into 2 dozen bars.
Nutrition
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Candy
Are these soft?
Marye Audet
Candy, not really. They aren’t terribly crispy either.
Nutmeg Nanny
Oats, peanut butter and chocolate…what’s not to love? These look sooooooo good!
Marye Audet
Oh they are really good!
Emily | Rainbow Delicious
These bars look so good and the thing I like most about it is that the ingredient list is so short- sometimes simple is best!
Marye Audet
I totally agree!
Manila Spoon (Abby)
Oh what a treasure trove of recipes and good memories you have in that cookbook! You must be so delighted to have that! And these bars are delicious and certainly timeless!
Marye Audet
I am. I think that I am going to start posting the recipes… they are certainly treasures!
sue|theviewfromgreatisland
There’s only one word for these — brilliant!!
Marye Audet
Thank you so much!
Christie
Love finding old recipes. Sometimes they really are still the best. These look amazing.
Marye Audet
Thank you so much! They were certainly a hit in our house, they disappeared so fast!
Kristen Chidsey
Your parties sound like mine did as a child–I wish everyone would return to simpler things in life. Kids need so much to stay happy these days (my kids ALWAYS have a homemade party–I refuse to pay over 200 to just rent a place for a few hours)
Marye Audet
My kids always had homemade parties, still do. I love planning them and making the food and birthday cake. I think they are much more personal and fun that way.
Sarah
Those parties arent just a thing of the past. All through my childhood my mom would make the boxed cakes, and do pin the tail on the donkey! That is the only way to do kids parties. I can’t believe that Toys R US does gift registry!!
Marye Audet
I know! It seems kinda of creepy to me that they do but some people love it.
Connie
I loved Oh Henry bars when I was young. I’m looking forward to trying these.
Marye Audet
🙂 let me know how you like them!
Aida@TheCraftingFoodie
These look so good! I love all of these ingredients – oatmeal, chocolate and my favorite – peanut butter. Yum!
Marye Audet
I agree.. it’s a great combo!
Anna @annaDishes
Oh wow, these sound awesome! I love the peanut butter and oat combo and LOVE that they “They aren’t stuffed with Oreos, bacon, or the flavor du jour but just wholesome goodness.” Perfect!!
Marye Audet
Anna, they are really good. I love some of the stuff on Pinterest but sometimes I get tired of seeing an Oreo stuffed in something. 😉
Laura Tabacca
Many of those older recipes are scary, but there are also some serious gems, like these bars. I love peanut butter and chocolate!
Marye Audet
I do try to steer clear of anything with Jello, Laura! LOL!!
Jennifer A Stewart
Oh Henry bars were one of my favorites! I can’t wait to try these bars! My kids have never heard of an O Henry bar and when I brought it up they just called it a “oldie” thing that mom keeps talking about. Like VCRs and Atari!
Marye Audet
Yep. My kids tend to be skeptical of my “old timey” recipes… until they take a bite… 🙂
allie @ Through Her Looking Glass
Loved your memories, Marye. I remember similar birthdays without the cart and pony show. It was a simpler time, we lived out in the country on fifteen acres of preserve lands in RI. Spent my days visiting elderly neighbors, collecting sap from the maple trees, boiling it for syrup in the sugar house by the pond next door. The one we skated on in winter, that had the little gazebo on the island and the covered bridge on the other side. Nice memories. Now let’s talk these amazing bars. OH HENRY!!! They look THE BEST. Recipes that stand the test of time are wonderful. Thanks for sharing this one here, I can tell it’s a keeper.
Marye Audet
🙂 it really really is. LOL!
Olivia @ livforcake
These looks delicious and I love that you have a retro cookbook that you can dive into for stuff like this!
Marye Audet
LOL! I have a ton of old cookbooks. I have one that is about how to cook on rations from WW2. 🙂
Kristen Hess (The Artful Gourmet)
Oh. My. Goodness. How good do these sound? I must make these for my next chocolate craving soon. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Marye Audet
You won’t be sorry! They are amazing.
Kacey @ The Cookie Writer
This is right up my alley! I love classic recipes, especially super easy ones!
Marye Audet
Me too!
Faith (An Edible Mosaic)
I used to love these as a kid and I haven’t had them in years! I am definitely craving one now though – these look incredible!
Marye Audet
You should make them. so good!
heather @french press
I treasure my grandmothers old cookbooks, and secretly long for the days when people dressed up – and I SO remember my backyard parties dresses and all 🙂 what a great trip down memory lane and what a delicious recipe
Marye Audet
Thanks Heather!
Laura @MotherWouldKnow
My mom wasn’t much of a cook in the 60’s, but she gave me some of her old cookbooks and I have one that is a Betty Crocker Cookie Book that I think I got when I was a brownie (not an edible one:) This recipe is classic and one that I can imagine is probably in that book (I’m too lazy to go and look for it) – the peanut and caramel flavors with chocolate on the outside is not exactly the same, but still close to the candy bar of the same name. Thought you might appreciate this link to a very esoteric discussion of the O Henry candy bar. http://www.candyblog.net/blog/item/the_oh_henrys
Marye Audet
One of my favorite bars! Thanks!
Kristen
I don’t think you can get much better than this recipe. Looks great–sometimes the oldies are the goodies!
Marye Audet
I totally agree Kristen.