Well, my big work project is finally (near) finished – I’ve been busy designing a 24-page magazine-style publication of all of our fall programs, and it turned out to be beautiful! I’m so happy. I have been working really hard on it and shutting myself in a temporary workspace alone at the office for the past week. I am pretty sure I’ve gone through an entire box of tea and I’ve listened to all of my Spotify playlists two or three times through. I’m looking forward to actually speaking with my coworkers again, and I have to say, I’m really proud of my work. I’ll tweet it next week when it goes live, in case you’re interested. In the mean time, I think I will celebrate with cookies.

Or cookie bars, technically. It’s a slightly modified cookie recipe. I really wanted there to be peanut butter in these cookies, but I was afraid that it would cause them to not bake in the correct shape if I made them as drop cookies. Solution = brownie pan. The batter can’t go anywhere and I get to keep my peanut butter. Win-win.

Here’s what you need:

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sguar
• 1/4 cup butter at room temperature
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup AP flour
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 3 oz. baking chocolate, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a 9×9 glass baking dish by spraying with nonstick cooking spray, lining with parchment paper and then spraying with nonstick again.

In a mixing bowl, cream the two sugars, butter and peanut butter for about one minute, or until blended. Add in the egg and vanilla, and mix just until combined.

Add in the baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and flour and mix until combined. Finally, fold in the oats and baking chocolate chunks.

Grease your hands a little bit with cooking spray and press into the baking dish, creating an even layer. Bake for about 22 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. Allow to cool for 20 minutes in the pan, then lift out using the parchment paper and cut into squares while the bars are still warm.