Oh Henry Bars Are the Retro Dessert That Deserve a Comeback

One of the things I love about keeping a recipe file is that every time I rifle through it looking for a specific recipe, I come across other recipes I’ve forgotten about and not made in ages. This is especially true for my recipe file’s cookie section, which is crammed with easily twice as many clippings, recipe cards, and printouts as any other section. 

I was seeking a completely different cookie recipe when I came across an old handwritten recipe for "Oh Henry squares." We used to make them in the 1980s around Christmastime. My mom originally got the recipe from Susan Buckalew. My folks and the Buckalews go way back; Susan and mom have been swapping recipes since they met in the late 1960s and they’re still at it.

As a kid, I loved making Oh Henry bars just as much as eating them. They were simple for a beginning baker to make, and they were like a homemade version of the Quaker Dipps chocolate peanut butter granola bars I coveted in my lunch bag back then. 

How To Make Oh Henry Bars

Now I’m a time-pressed baker, and Oh Henry bars fit that bill, too. You just melt a stick of butter and mix it with rolled oats, brown sugar, and honey. Then pat it in a pan and bake just until it’s set. As the base bakes, you melt chocolate chips and peanut butter together, then spread it evenly over the baked oaty base. The whole happens in under half an hour. The hardest part is waiting for the pan to cool enough to cut into bars!

Why Are These Cookies Called Oh Henry Bars?

These delectable bar cookies were inspired by a storied candy bar called Oh Henry! (you gotta love a candy bar with an exclamation point in its name). They’ve been around for over a century and are currently more popular in Canada than America. An Oh Henry! candy bar features a fudgy base topped with a matrix of peanuts suspended in caramel, all covered in chocolate. 

That same flavor combo informs Oh Henry’s bar cookie incarnation. They’re chocolaty enough that they do indeed seem like confections, making them perfect for adding diversity to holiday cookie trays or cookie swaps.

Oh Henry Bars Are Not Scotcharoos

These little bars are somewhat similar to another Midwestern cookie staple, the scotcharoo. Both feature a chocolate and peanut butter top layer. The difference is that the base of scotcharoos is cooked, similar to Rice Krispie treats, and Oh Henry bars are baked. If you disagree, please leave a comment because we want to hear from you!

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