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The other night Michael and I had a fantastic dinner–it smelled heavenly while it simmered, tasted heavenly when we ate it. After our heavenly dinner, we left for a fun evening out.
2 hours later, when we arrived back home… the house did not smell heavenly.
At. All.
Something needed to be done about it. Stat.
It’s times like these that you have to pull out the big guns. We had to bake a treat. Common sense, really. We practically had no other choice.
Thus, dear reader, I give you peanut butter bars. Dangerously delicious, sometimes addictive, almost always a crowd pleaser.
Peanut Butter Bars
Ingredients
- 1c butter, softened
- 1c brown sugar
- ⅔c white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1c peanut butter
- scant ½tsp salt
- 1tsp baking soda
- 1¾c flour
- 2c quick oats
- 2c chocolate chips + 1 Tbsp butter, for topping
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Stir in eggs, 1 at a time. Stir in vanilla and peanut butter. Sift in salt, baking soda, and flour. Stir in oats. Batter will be somewhat thick.
- Spray a large cookie sheet with nonstick spray. Press batter into pan evenly. (If you find it’s difficult to spread, I usually use my hands and occasionally dip my fingertips into a small cup of water.)
- Bake a 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes until just set. Do not over bake.
- While cookies are baking, melt chocolate chips with butter in a double boiler. When cookies come out of the oven, let cool 1-2 minutes. While cookies are still warm, spread chocolate over top. Slice into bars and serve.
- Store leftovers in the refrigerator for longer keeping.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Those bars look yummy! My Grandma makes something very similar, except she puts a peanut butter topping on along with the chocolate topping.
Oh, those look wonderful! Thanks for sharing- I can't wait to try them!
our topping is different, too, but they are my husband's second favorite treats I make. YUM.
I'm going to make these over the weekend. They look delicious. You always have such great recipes. Keep up the good work.
Hi Emily – I made these bars tonight – yum! The ingredients are very similar to my favorite cookies – monster cookies – except that they also have m’m's. Here is the recipe in case you are interested:
Monster Cookies
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
1 1/3 cup peanut butter
Cream these two.
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
Add sugars to butters and cream.
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp white corn syrup
2 tsp baking soda
Add these to the batter and mix.
4 1/2 cups quick cooking oatmeal
1 cup m&m’s
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
nuts (optional)
Mix in the dry ingredients. Drop by teaspoon on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 8-12 minutes depending on your oven. The key is to take the cookies out just before the tops have finished baking. Let them sit out of the oven in the pan for a few minutes to cool before removing them and they will finish baking. Enjoy! The recipe is very forgiving!
Yum! Kel, these sound GREAT! Thanks for the recipe!