Coffee Revel Bars

It's just two months before I can go back to Davao and eat all the food that I missed. Even if I have been out of the country for less than a year, I have not stayed in my hometown since 2010. I think about Davao every time I see expensive pastries and long to be back home to enjoy the delectable yet affordable food there. :( One of my most missed food in Davao is the Revel Bars. I frequent this place called Babycakes in Marfori. They have the most luscious Revel Bars, I tell you! I have tried a lot of different kinds but I always go back to them. The balance of the oats and chocolate is satisfying to the palate. Instead of just dreaming about it and be sad, I decided to make one today. Just in time because we already ran out of cookies and biscuits to munch on. Originally, the recipe only calls for chocolate chips but I wanted to add coffee to make it more flavorful. :)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup condensed milk
• 2 tbsp margarine, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp instant coffee granules

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
2. Mix flour, rolled oats, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients until combined.
4. Cook condensed milk, margarine, coffee and chocolate chips over low fire. Stir until well mixed. Add vanilla.
5. To assemble: spread the oats mixture at bottom of the greased pan. Pour chocolate mixture generously on the top. Dot with the remaining oat mixture to look like this:

Assembled coffee revel bar

6. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is brown. Cool over rack and slice according to your liking.

Crunchy top - just the way I like it :)

The recipe I got online had walnuts and used two cups of sugar. I don't want my bars to be too sweet that's why I used 1/2 cup less than what the recipe called for. For the chocolate mixture, I didn't use up 1 can of condensed milk. Probably it was just 3/4 of a cup that I used. And I added instant coffee for an extra kick of caffeine.

I was happy with the outcome of my experiment. Just the perfect balance of sweetness and coffee flavor. And the Husband was satisfied with it, too! Hurray! :)

This bar goes good with coffee or tea - anytime of the day. :)