OMG! Peanut Butter Bars

At Iowa State, I had one favorite dessert. Sure, I ate more desserts than this one...but, I only had one favorite. For a good decade now, I have wanted a recipe for this little rectangle of deliciousness. Last week, I finally found a recipe that closely resembled peanut butter bars.  "Tried and Tried Again" posted a recipe for "School Lunch Lady Bars" here: http://triedandtriedagain.blogspot.com/2011/06/school-lunch-peanut-butter-bars.html.

They are almost Iowa State Dining's peanut butter bars. Almost. Iowa State's bars had a middle layer of chocolate and a peanut butter frosting. (Her bars have a middle peanut butter layer and chocolate frosting.) So, I had to modify. (Of course I had to modify!)

Here's my recipe:

BARS
1 1/2 c. flour

1¼ tsp. Salt

½ tsp. Baking Soda

¾ c Butter

¾ c Sugar

¾ c Brown Sugar

1 ½ tsp. Vanilla

3/4 c. Creamy Peanut Butter (split)

2 Eggs

1 ½ c Quick Oats (BTW, I used regular and it turned it out fine)

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugars, peanut butter, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add dry ingredients, just until incorporated. Then, stir in the oats. Spread onto a greased 11 x 15 Jelly Roll Pan (cookie sheet). Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes.

 

CHOCOLATE LAYER

I melted 8 squares of 60% dark Ghiradelli chocolate in the microwave. I microwaved them for 45 seconds; stirred; melted for 30; stirred; spread. You want to make sure the chocolate layer is hard before spreading the frosting. If crunched for time, stick the pan in the freezer for a bit. (You bet your bottom dollar I did that.)

 

I like dark chocolate and I had 4 squares leftover from...some earlier time this year - and had individually wrapped Ghiradellis on hand. I'm sure chocolate chips would work great for this; I just haven't really mastered melting chocolate chips.

 

PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING

1/2 c. peanut butter

3 1/2 c. powdered sugar

1/3 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 T. butter

 

Blend peanut butter and powdered sugar together. Add milk and vanilla. Depending on the consistency, you may need to add the butter and 1-2 T more milk. The frosting (without the added 1-2 T of milk, but with the butter) spread really nicely. So nicely that our friend Ryan (also an Iowa State grad) commented on its spreadability.

 

I did take tried to take pictures of the bars. My camera does not take food pictures well. Here's the obligatory food picture ANYWAY. Trust me, the taste better than this picture does justice.

 

 

 

By the way, these are the only ones that we had left. We gave the rest of the pan to friends. I love them, but I also want to keep wearing my clothes. :)