White Chocolate Fudge-Filled Oat Cups

Allow me to introduce you to the best thing I've experienced this week. The highlight of my week. The cutest little dessert snack I've ever made. Drum roll please...

The Fudge Filled Oat Cup!

I decided to bake these for my softball teams this week. This is becoming a trend I hope I can keep up with. I play on two teams every week so I've been baking things to share at the games. Last week, I brought Lemon Bars. The week before that was the Gooseberry Thumbprints. It's a fun break between the more difficult and complex recipes because I need to choose something snack-sized. What should I bring next week? Any suggestions??

I got this recipe from Chocolate and Whine. This is one of my FAVORITE blogs. The author, Stephanie, is funny. I count on her to bring me laughter during my not-so-enjoyable work day. Check her out!

These oat cups are amazing. I received tons of compliments and they disappeared quickly. I loved the contrast of salty and sweet. Although the recipe is fairly simple with few ingredients and short bake time, it is time consuming to shape the dough into the cups. Plan on the recipe taking a couple hours. For me, this made about 40 cups with a little extra fudge left over.

White Chocolate Fudge-Filled Oat Cups

from Chocolate and Whine

Oat Cups

1 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup brown sugar

3 cups oatmeal

1 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Filling

2 cups chopped white chocolate

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350° and grease your mini muffin tin.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add the oatmeal, flour, salt, and cinnamon and mix until combined. (my mixer was struggling a bit here, I would suggest using a wooden spoon. Add chopped walnuts (optional) and mix until incorporated. Drop dough by tablespoon into the greased wells of your mini muffin tin. Press down on the dough so that it lines the walls and bottom of the well and forms a cup. Bake for 5-6 minutes.

While crusts are baking make the fudge filling by heating the milk and chips over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and add vanilla extract. Continue to stir the fudge sporadically throughout the rest of baking these or it will start to harden.

Remove the partially baked crusts from oven (they should not be brown). If they’ve puffed up during baking, gently press them back down using a spoon and not your fingers. Fill each mini crust with fudge. If you miss and get some on the tin, wipe it off before putting the tin back in the oven (it'll burn otherwise). Return to oven and bake for another 3-4 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool at room temperature. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes or until firm.

Using a sharp knife, gently pry the Fudge Cups out of the tin. They should pop out if you greased properly and the cups are firm.