Spirited Southern Sweet Potato Bars

Sweet potatoes are supposed to be good for you, which is what makes them appealing. The thing that makes them popular is that they taste good. Throw some Quaker into the mix you have a surprisingly tasty snack.

Ingredients

2 cups Large Flake Quaker^® Oats or Quick Quaker^® Oats (uncooked)
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups mashed cooked sweet potato or canned pumpkin
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons bourbon or 1/2 teaspoon rum extract (optional)
1 cup chopped pecans

How to make it

Heat oven to 375°F.
Lightly grease 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
In large bowl, combine oats and flour; mix well.
Remove 2/3 cup and add salt and red pepper; set aside for filling. To remaining oat-flour mixture, add butter, granulated sugar and vanilla; blend with electric mixer on low to medium speed until crumbly. Reserve 1 cup for topping. Press remaining mixture evenly onto bottom of prepared pan.
Bake 15 minutes; remove pan from oven.
In separate bowl, combine sweet potato, eggs, brown sugar, bourbon and reserved 2/3 cup oat-flour mixture; mix well. Spread filling over warm crust. Add nuts to reserved topping mixture; mix well. Sprinkle evenly over sweet potato filling.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until topping is light golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack; cut into bars. Serve at room temperature. Store in refrigerator tightly covered.