Peanut Butter Bars

Peanut Butter Bars

This recipe was under D for desserts. 

Peanut butter. You either love it or you're deathly allergic to it. If you are the latter, please do not try this recipe! I happen to be a peanut butter lover so I couldn't resist the opportunity to make these tasty treats. My mom said she'd never made the recipe before (of course). This one takes a while to make so it's best to make them when you have a good block of free time. 

Let's get started! 

Peanut Butter Bars

1 Cup crunchy peanut butter

2/3 Cup butter or margarine, softened

1 Teaspoon vanilla

2 Cups firmly packed light brown sugar

3 Eggs

1 Cup sifted all-purpose flour

½ Teaspoon salt

¾ Cup sifted 10x (confectioners’ powdered) sugar

2 Teaspoons water

¼ Cup semisweet chocolate pieces (from a 6-ounce package)

1 Teaspoon shortening

1. Combine peanut butter, butter or margarine, and vanilla in a large bowl;

     beat with electric beater until well-blended; beat in sugar until light and

     fluffy; beat in eggs, one at a time.

2.  Stir in flour and salt just until well-blended; spread batter in a greased

     13x9x2 inch baking pan.

3.  Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) 35 minutes, or until center springs

     back when lightly touched with fingertip. Remove pan from oven to wire

     rack; cool slightly.

4.  Combine 10x sugar with water in a small bowl; stir until smooth; drizzle

     from a spoon over still-warm cookies in pan; swirl with bowl of spoon

     to make a random pattern.

5.  Melt chocolate with shortening over simmer water in top of double boiler.

     Drizzle over the white glaze for a black-and-white patter. When cool,

     using a sharp knife, cut into 36 rectangles. Carefully lift out of pan with

     spatula.

You should probably already have the ingredients in your house so no need for a special shopping trip!

First things first. Preheat your oven to 350. This is also a good opportunity to get your pan greased. I used a pan that I always use for making brownies and sprayed it with non-stick spray. 

Make sure your butter or margarine is soft. You can soften it up by warming them up in the microwave for about 30 seconds. If the butter or margarine is still cold it won't mix properly. Add the softened butter or margarine into a mixing bowl with the peanut butter and vanilla. I used creamy peanut butter because we didn't have chunky on hand, but use whatever kind you'd like. 

Combine the ingredients together with an electric mixer until everything has been incorporated well. 

Next step: add the brown sugar. Be sure you are packing the sugar in tightly to your measuring cup so you have the correct measurement. 

I ran out of of light brown sugar and had to use a 1/4 cup of dark brown instead. Mix the sugar into the peanut butter mixture until it becomes light and fluffy. 

You can now add the eggs to the mixture, one at a time. 

When all three eggs have been mixed in your batter should be creamy. 

Go ahead and add the flour and salt to the peanut butter batter. 

Mix it together with a regular spatula or spoon instead of the electric mixer for this step. It will help to keep the batter light and fluffy. 

When the dry ingredients are incorporated into the batter you can spread it into the baking pan and put them in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes. Mine took exactly that time so keep an eye on it. You can be sure it's done by pressing your finger on it like the recipe says or by inserting a tooth pick in the middle. If it comes out clean, it's done! 

When you remove the mixture from the oven, place it on a cooling rack, but leave it in the pan. 

Next, we'll prepare the topping. (The best part!) You don't actually have to sift the confectioners sugar 10 times, but go ahead if you have the time! I sifted it once and it turned out fine. 

Add about two tablespoons of water to the mixture (I used more) and mix until you have a smooth icing like this. It helps to use warm water as well; otherwise you end up with a glue consistency. 

When your icing is ready go ahead and drizzle it on top of the still warm and in the pan bars. The recipe tells you to use the bowl of the spoon but I just used the end of the spoon and tried to make a pretty pattern (tried!). 

When the icing has been drizzled on top you can make the chocolate frosting. 

Start a double boiler. I used a pan of water that I brought to a simmer, with another pan on top. This is the best way to melt chocolate so it doesn't burn. 

When the water is simmering go ahead and add the chocolate and shortening (Crisco). You need to keep an eye on this and stir it frequently so it doesn't burn. 

It will start to melt down and the chips will begin to disappear like this: 

When the chocolate is ready for icing it should look smooth like this:

Go ahead and drizzle it on top of the bars just like the icing mixture; creating a random pattern. 

When you are satisfied with your artistic icing abilities you can go ahead and cut them into squares. The recipe calls for 36 rectangles, but I just cut them into reasonable sized pieces. 

Go ahead and give them a try! They are best when just baked and still warm. 

I gave this recipe a 4 out of 5 on the yummy scale!

The bars came out pretty good, but the consistency of the bars were a little denser then I'd like. It had great flavor though! I definitely recommend giving them a try if you don't have a peanut allergy!