Saturday, April 21, 2007

Peanut butter bars...

We finally hit the jackpot with a wonderful sunny and warm weekend! It is already in the 70's and it is supposed to keep getting warmer... hurray! We're using this time to get ready to try our hand at a garden this year - while it won't be anything too fancy, we hope to get things going in the next couple of weeks and see what we can do!

Jeff has been working from home as I was sick this past week and I felt bad that his co-workers were kind of expecting a Wednesday Treat Day that never came. Since I was feeling better, I figured I could at least make a little something for him to take in yesterday and decided to make these Mini Peanut Butter Cup Bars. This is just your basic layered bar cookie - the base is slightly sweeter than most and is a mixture of flour, sugar, salt and of course a mess of softened butter. While most of it is pressed into a baking pan and given a quick pre-bake, we reserved a small portion of the mixture to be sprinkled on top later. As it cooks, a simple mixture of sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter chips are warmed together until they completely combine and then it is spread over the hot crust. The reserved crumb mixture is then tossed with some mini chocolate peanut butter cups and scattered on top.

However, I took a bit too long to scatter this on and the crumbles started to melt into the warmed peanut butter layer and it looked a bit reminiscent of a leopard print... oops! While the baked bars are on the sweeter side, they are dense, cut cleanly and the peanut butter flavor shines through the rich base. The mini peanut butter cups are an added bonus and are just the right size for a bar like this, but you could get away with using chopped chocolate chunks or chips if you want - the chocolate and peanut butter combo is always delicious!


10 comments:

  1. Firstly, am pleased to hear that you are feeling better.

    Secondly, much as I would love to make this I do not think I could find half the ingredients in Ireland.

    Pity too because it looks divine!

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  2. Joe,

    I've had peanut on the brain lately and these are just gorgeous! I wish I could have one.

    Enjoy the great weather!

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  3. Noooo...not another one! (PB chips going on next weeks shopping list.)

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  4. Glad to hear you are feeling better. I love the leopard effect! These are now on my "to try" treats for the neighbors' kids.

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  5. Rob - Which items can't you locate there?

    Ivonne - Peanut butter is definitely a favorite around here.

    Erika - hee hee!

    helene - let me know how it goes!

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  6. Hi! Loving visiting your blog.

    I made these last night...total HIT! Thanks. They were really easy to prepare and devoured in minutes at the office.

    I couldn't find the mini PB Cups, so I used the miniatures and cut them up. Worked great.

    You can see the post I did with pictures here.

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  7. I can't wait to try out this recipe. It looks so yummy. I am going to make them for our customers. Thanks.

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  8. Scotte - Glad to hear they turned out well with your additions! I'm more likely to have the bigger PB cups on hand anyway and will jot that down!

    Rachel - Hope you like the bars!

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  9. I finally made these peanut butter bars and I cut them up and put them in a dish and set them out for everyone in the office. They were all gone with in a half hour. Delicious!

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  10. Rachel - Fantastic! Glad they went over well.

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