Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Our little town was honored to have the Minneapolis Children’s Theater perform tonight the classic children’s book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.  It was an amazing night and my kids loved it.  I decided this afternoon that it would be cute if we had a batch of cookies to eat after the show…..yes, I am that kind of corny Mom!  Well, there was 10 of us to feed since my kids were bringing friends so I needed a lot.

Then I was asked to make some cookies for a different function tomorrow.  I figured I was going to need about 5 dozen cookies and didn’t feel like spending my only sunny afternoon this week scooping out individual cookies, so bar cookies were the winners.

This is my “go-to” bar recipe that always disappears faster than I can imagine.  I know there are a million different versions out there of this type of bar but I really found this one to my tastes best.  I know many of you will be tempted to use butter instead of shortening, and usually I am right with you but this is one of those recipes that just isn’t the same if you do.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

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Ingredients

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• 3/4 C butter flavored shortening
• 1/2 C sugar
• 2 C brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 t vanilla
• 3/4 C creamy peanut butter
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 C flour
• 2 C oats

Topping

• 12 oz bag chocolate chips
• 1/4 C creamy peanut butter
• 2 T milk
• 1 C powdered sugar

 

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In your mixer, cream shortening and sugars together.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix to combine.  Add peanut butter and mix.  Add all dry ingredients and mix until incorporated.
2. Spread batter into a 13 x 18 inch pan, making sure to get the batter as even as possible across the pan.  Bake for 16-18 minutes on middle rack until golden brown on top.
3. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with one bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Allow to sit until chocolate melts then spread over the bars.  Mix together the 1/4 C peanut butter, milk and powdered sugar.  Drizzle over the bars and swirl into the chocolate.
4. Allow bars to cool completely.  You can put them in the refrigerator if the chocolate needs to harden after they have cooled.  I cut off the edges when serving, but that is just my preference.

• Author: Carole Jones

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1/28th
• Calories: 301
• Sugar: 31g
• Sodium: 89mg
• Fat: 14g
• Saturated Fat: 4g
• Unsaturated Fat: 7g
• Trans Fat: 1g
• Carbohydrates: 40g
• Fiber: 2g
• Protein: 5g
• Cholesterol: 18mg