Fudge Nut Bars

Quick, easy and sturdy, these bars travel well so they're a good choice if you're sending baked goods through the mail. Semisweet rather than milk chocolate is the key to making them delicious and moist, but not too sugary-sweet.

Foundation Ingredients:

1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups unsifted flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 cups uncooked oatmeal (whole, not "quick")

Preparation:

Cream butter and sugar. Mix in eggs and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda and salt together. Stir in oats. Add creamed mix to dry ingredients. Stir well and set aside.

Filling Ingredients:

12-oz. package of semisweet chocolate chips (preferably not generic)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbs. butter
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preparation:

Melt chocolate chips in saucepan. Over low heat, stir in condensed milk, butter and salt. Add walnuts and vanilla. Spread 2/3 of oat mix in 9"x13" pan. Cover with chocolate mix. Dot with remaining oat mix and swirl. (Chocolate will not all be covered.) Bake at 350 degrees for 25 min. until top is browned. Let cool and cut into bars.

* Note: These can be made ahead of time and frozen.