Peanut Butter Bars

I was a single lady this last weekend so I found myself making quite a few sweets.  It wasn't until the weekend was over that I realized I had made two versions of peanut butter bars.  I made this first and I think this is my favorite of the two, but check back in a few days and you can see for yourself. 

 The first step is to line an 8x8" pan with parchment paper.  I did this but now that I've made it I don't think it was really necessary.  The bars came out easily and I mostly just tore the paper.

For the crust I used a row (tube) of Oreo's.  I couldn't find chocolate wafer cookies, like Nabisco Famous chocolate cookies.  I figured the cream filling would just add to the flavor.  I crushed the Oreo's in a ziploc with my rolling pin, measureed them out.  Then I softened the butter and measured out the sugar.

That was the crust - crushed Oreo's, butter and a bit of sugar.  It seemed a bit excessive to add sugar to Oreo's but...  I'm nothing if not obedient.  :-)

I pressed the crumbs out to form a crust.

In to the oven for 15 minutes.  I really don't know what baking Oreo's and butter does but again... obedienence.  :-)

While the crust baked I got started on the peanut butter layer. I melted the butter and then used my shifted the powder sugar in on top to minimize lumps.

After the sugar was all melted/blended with the butter I added in the peanut butter and whipped it up.

Last step for the peanut butter layer, graham cracker crumbs...

After I mixed these in I had a taste (have to taste each step right?) and I didn't like the crunch of the graham crackers.  But when I had the finished product... there wasn't any crunch in the peanut butter layer.  I'm guessing the butter/peanut butter softened the crumbs until they weren't discernible in the overall mix. 

I spooned the peanut butter out to try and minimize spreading...

Then I evened out the peanut butter and set it aside.

Time for chocolate! The recipe called for 60% bittersweet chocolate.  But I've been disappointed when I've used bittersweet chocolate in the past so I just went with good old semi-sweet chocolate chips. 

The recipe calls for using a double boiler to melt the butter and chocolate.  I just used the microwave.

Then I spread it on top of the peanut butter.

All done!

I stuck it in the fridge for a while to set up before I helped myself to a piece.

Don't those layers look yummy!

I've had recipes like this in the past but the crust has always been a gragham cracker crust and I don't like it very well with the peanut butter.  I've looked for a recipe with no crust but haven't found one.  But this one with a chocolate/Oreo crust - that's really good!

 

This is pretty calorie dense...  If you cut your 8x8" pan into 16 pieces, they are still 300+ calories per piece, so tread carefully! 



After I had my one piece I packaged the rest up to take to a Relief Society activity, can't keep something like that in my house!