Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars with Peanut Butter Caramel Filling

Difficult: No
Time Consuming: No

This is one of my favorite desserts to bring to events because... 1) They come together quickly.  2) The filling makes them incredible soft.  3) The caramel adds a sweetness that's tempered by the peanut butter, so it's not too sweet.  4) I can't stop eating them.

These bars are amazing.  Possibly one of my favorite things I've made this year, they're that good.  The cookie layers perfectly sandwich the peanut butter caramel middle.  To make it extra special, as I was cooking the caramel for the filling, I dropped in a vanilla bean and stirred until all the little flecks of vanilla caviar speckled the gooey filling (just make sure you take it out before you spread it over the cookie base).

This recipe makes a 13x9" pan of incredible bars.  When you're spreading the first layer of cookie into the pan, you will worry that there is no way that two-thirds of the dough will cover it.  But just keep squishing it around until you get the whole bottom covered - it will seem thin, but the layer will puff up when it bakes.  For the cookie topping, I dropped teaspoon sized dough balls all over the surface, they puff up and spread out, but still leave little windows for the silky, gooey peanut butter caramel to peak through.

The Recipe:

yields one 9x13 pan, cut into whatever size you'd like

Ingredients
 chocolate chip cookie dough
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt 
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
5 tablespoons shortening (if you have a tablespoon sized cookie scoop, it makes quick measuring from a tub of shortening)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips 

Peanut Butter Caramel Filling
1/2 cup (4 oz) evaporated milk
11 ounces caramels, unwrapped (you can buy Kraft Caramels, Kraft Caramel Bits, or Werther's Original Chewy Caramels - I used Werther's because someone bought out all the Kraft caramels)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
*optional: the caviar from 1 vanilla bean, or 1 whole split vanilla bean

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Optional: Coarse salt, like Kosher or Sea Salt.  You can be extra special by using vanilla sea salt if you have it.

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a 9x13" pan with foil - leave enough overhang so you can lift the bars out of the pan when they're done.  Set aside.  In a medium bowl, lightly whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together, set aside.

2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and shortening together until combined.  Add both sugars and beat for about 2 minutes - until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla, beat until combined.  Mix in chocolate chips.

3.  Add half of the flour mixture, and mix until just combined.  Then add the remaining flour mixture and mix again until just combined.

4.  Take about two-thirds of the dough and press it into the bottom of the pan.  It will seem like it won't cover, but just keep smooshing it until it covers - it will be fairly thin.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, until it's just set and hardly brown.

5.  While the base layer is baking, begin making the filling.  Unwrap caramels and place in a medium saucepan.  Add peanut butter, evaporated milk (and the vanilla bean if you are using it).  Whisk over medium heat until smooth.

6.  When the cookie base is finished (which probably happened while you were making the filling), pour the peanut butter caramel over top, and spread evenly (if you put in a whole split vanilla bean, make sure to remove it.)  Sprinkle 1/4 cup of chocolate chips (or more, I'm not judging) over the peanut butter caramel.

7.  Drop teaspoon sized dough balls over the surface of the caramel layer.  Sprinkle lightly with salt (optional) and bake for 18-20 minutes (until the cookie dough on top is lightly browned)

8.  Cool completely in pan then cut into 24 squares (or however many you want).  I chilled mine in the fridge to make cutting a little easier.


From Everyday Reading

One Bowl Chocolate Cupcake with Dreamy Peanut Butter Frosting

Difficulty: Easy
Time Consuming: The cake doesn't take very long to whip up, then I baked four 6-cupcake trays at once for 24 minutes.

I don't know why, but I don't have a great go-to chocolate cupcake recipe.  I have a great chocolate cake recipe, but converting the cooking time to cupcakes wasn't something I felt like doing.  I stumbled across Martha Stewart's one bowl chocolate cupcake recipe and it seemed legit.  And I'm not gonna snub my nose at any recipe that dirties less dishes than required for actually eating it.

I was so happy when I took these out of the oven and saw they all puffed up beautifully.  Well, except one, and I can't even begin to explain that.

Waiting for them to cool was killer, but I dove in as soon as it was safe for my mouth.  I've recently been trying to curl my hair with a styling wand and have more burns on my left hand than I can count.  I did not need to add a burned tongue or palate to that list.  But I digress.  These cupcakes were dense in a perfect way.  I know dense usually means bad, but I wouldn't describe these as "light and cakey", but rather "rich, moist, dense, heaven-in-my-mouth." I had to show some serious will power and only go half-sies on one cupcake with my husband.  And all this emotion before we even get to the frosting.

If you love peanut butter, then this is the butter cream for you, baby.  It has a distinct peanut butter flavor that becomes so silky and smooth against the foundation of cream cheese and butter.  And on top of these chocolate cupcakes......oh man.  The chocolate-peanut butter combination hits you and everything around you falls away while you savor the party in your mouth.  When you fall back to reality, I hope you have the strength to save a cupcake or two, you know, for your kids, husband, best friend, neighbor.  I know I definitely went back for more ;)

I altered the ingredients in the cupcakes ever so slightly by adding instant espresso powder, since coffee just deepens and enhances chocolate flavor.  You could also use equal amounts brewed coffee.  I also changed the baking time and temperature based on a picture I saw on Pinterest about baking cupcakes....I know, a legit and credible source, but what can I say, it worked for me.

The Recipe
yields 18 or so cupcakes (Martha says you can get 18-24, I got 19)

Ingredients:
Chocolate Cupcake
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder dissolved in 3/4 cup warm water; or 3/4 cup brewed coffee; or 3/4 cup water
3/4 cup buttermilk; or 2 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice or white vinegar mixed with scant 3/4 cup milk (let sit for a few minutes so that the mixture curdles - this is a cheater buttermilk that I use all the time)
3 tablespoons canola oil (or vegetable or safflower)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract. 

Peanut Butter Frosting
2 sticks butter, room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese (I prefer Neufchatel), room temperature
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup all creamy peanut butter
2-3 tablespoons milk or heavy cream (optional)

Directions
Chocolate Cupcake

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners, set aside.

2.  In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, sift/whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

3.  Add eggs, water/coffee/espresso, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla.  Mix with a hand mixer low-medium low or stand mixer (Kitchen Aid speed 2-4) for about 3 minutes, until the batter is well mixed.  You made need to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl during mixing.

4.  Divide the batter evenly into the baking cups, filling about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full.  Put pans in the oven, decrease the oven temperature to 325 degrees, and bake for 23-25 minutes.  The cupcakes are done when the tops spring back when touched.  If you need to rotate your pans during baking, I would not do so until16-18 minutes - if you rotate too early, you may end up with caved in cupcakes.

5.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1.  In a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter until white and fluffy.  Add the cream cheese, vanilla, and salt, beating until well incorporated.

2.  With the mixer on low speed, add 1 cup of powdered sugar and beat until well incorporated.  Repeat with the remaining 3 cups of powdered sugar.  If the mixtures appears to be too thick, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time and mixing until you reach the desired consistency.  After all the sugar has been add, beat on high for 2 minutes.

3.  Add the peanut butter and mix until fully incorporated.  Spread on top of cupcakes.

And if by all odds you have extra frosting, it's great sandwiched between chocolate icebox cookies.


Cupcake from Life in a Peanut Shell

The recipe from Martha herself.

Muddy Buddy Bars

Time consuming? Not at all.
Difficult? Not at all.

Everyone knows what muddy buddies are. They also go under the names puppy chow, dog food, monkey munch, and apparently also chewbacca chew (although I've never heard of that last one before). It's silky, melted chocolate and peanut butter covering a crunchy cereal (typically Chex or something similar) and tossed in powdered sugar. Absolutely melt-in-your mouth heaven!

These bars are slightly less messy to eat and better portion controlled than the bowl of sweet and crunchy amazing-ness I grew up with; yet they still retain the original experience of powdered sugar melting on you tongue quickly followed by the one-two punch combo of chocolate and peanut butter, all completed by that tell-tale crunch of the cereal that meant it was time to toss a few more bites in your mouth.

Good luck sharing these with anyone.  My friend Jamie and I made these for our cheerleaders and completely ate the entire pan ourselves.  And don't think I wasn't tempted to pummel her with a spatula just so I didn't have to share at all.

The recipe: Muddy Buddy Bars
yields 16-25 (more or less depending on how big or small you cut them)

Ingredients
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups chocolate chips
4 cups crispy rice cereal

1 cup marshmallows
Powdered sugar for dusting (about 1/2 cup, more or less)

Directions
1. Line a 9x9" baking dish with foil and spray with nonstick coating. Set aside.

2. In a large, heat proof bowl set over a double boiler, stir peanut butter and chocolate chips with a large spatula until smooth and melted. Remove from heat.

3. Add cereal and gently fold to coat. Add marshmallows and continue to fold until everything seems evenly coated with the chocolate mixture.

4. Spread cereal mixture into the prepared baking pan evenly. Top with the powdered sugar sifted evenly over top and refrigerate until cool. The freezer also works if you are impatient, just don't leave it in there so long that the bars freeze solid.

5. Once cooled, remove the bars from the pan by lifting the foil overhang. Cut into desired sizes and serve.


Recipe from Cookies and Cups

Sweet & Salty Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bars

Time consuming: Nope
Difficulty level: Not at all

On Friday, my husband's rugby club had their annual "skip" day. Since we're both teachers, we didn't have anything to skip but we still got to have to an awesome day with some fun people. We started the day with golf, which went much better for me than I expected.  I am terrible at golf - I only counted half my strokes and still only made par for the front nine, I guess I better stick to things I'm good at, like baking. After we played the front 9 holes, we came home, relaxed, and I prepared these babies:

After the rest of the group played the back nine, a few people came over for some drinks before we headed out for a Reds game.  The game was exciting, the Reds won, and the night ended with fireworks set to music! All in all, a great skip day!

These bars tasted great, but they were kinda hard to eat in this Ohio heat as both the top and bottom layers can get pretty melty. Next time, I might try to make a pretzel crust similar to how you'd make a graham cracker crust and then add a layer of pb and pretzels then the layer of chocolate. My favorite thing about this recipe was that it was no-bake, so I didn't have to heat up my kitchen using the oven!!

Sorry for the lack of photos, I was a little rushed because I snuck a nap in after golf and forget to snap pics as I went.

First, line an 8x8" baking pan with foil and spray with nonstick spray. Next, crush up pretzles in a food proccessor until you have fine crumbs. Some big chunks are ok, though. My mini food processor made a half cup of crumbs when I filled it with mini pretzles.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt butter. Add to pretzle crumbs, powedered sugar, and peanut butter. Mix until thoroughly combined then pat into the foil lined pan. Pop into the fridge so it can firm up a bit while you prep the chocolate.

In a microwave safe bowl (the one you melted butter in is fine), mix chocolate chips and peanut butter. Microwave in 30 second increments at half power, stirring in between, until the chocolate mixture is melted and smooth. Pour this over peanut butter layer and smooth over so that it is evenly distrubuted. Pop into the fridge or freezer until the chocolate has set. Cut, serve, and enjoy!

The recipe:
Sweet and Salty, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel No-Bake Bars 


Ingredients:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups pretzel crumbs, fine
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons peanut butter

Directions
 1. Line 8×8 pan with foil. Spray with baking spray.

2. In a medium microwave-safe bowl, melt  butter in microwave (about 30 seconds on HIGH). Combine with pretzel crumbs, peanut butter & confectioners sugar. Spread evenly into prepared pan and refrigerate at least 10 minutes.

3. Combine semi-sweet chips and peanut butter and microwave in 30 second intervals at half power, stirring frequently until melted and smooth. Spread evenly over the peanut butter/pretzel layer and refrigerate at least one hour. Remove from pan and cut into squares.

4. Sprinkle with fine grain sea salt for an extra punch of salt to really compliment the chocolate on top. Or not. They're great either way.

This recipe is slightly adapted from Baker Lady who slightly adapted it from the Craving Chronicles.