These chocolate peanut butter bars have left me speechless with out much to write except that you HAVE to make these right now! Your sweet tooth is going to go crazy for these!
They are delicious with the combined flavors of chocolate and peanut butter but I think that what I like most about these is the texture. These are bars that you can sink your teeth into and enjoy the chewy-ness. The sweetened condensed milk turns into a caramel-like layer as they bake and the whole wheat flour adds some structure. The topping and base are made from the same crumb mixture, making the preparation a snap. The recipe came from a 1992 Better Homes and Gardens publication “Cookies Cookies Cookies”.
Ingredients
- 2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
- 1 3/4 cups packed brown sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, cold and cut into slices
- 1/2 cup chopped peanuts
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate pieces
- 1 lightly beaten egg
- 1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13 by 9 inch pan. Line the pan with baking parchment and then lightly grease the paper.
- In a large mixing bowl stir together the oats, brown sugar, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using a pastry blender or your fingertips cut the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. You can also use a stand mixture fitted with the paddle attachment. Stir in the peanuts.
- To make the topping remove 1 3/4 cups of the crumb mixture. Stir this together with the chocolate pieces in a small bowl and set aside.
- Stir the egg into the remaining crumb mixture. Press this into the prepared pan. Bake the crust for about 18 minutes.
- To make the filling stir together the sweetened condensed milk, peanut butter and vanilla. Using a spatula carefully pour this over the crust. sprinkle with the topping.
- bake for another 15 minutes until the bars are light brown. Cool in the pan and then cut into bars.
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