Lunch Lady Peanut Butter Bars Mess-up

What better way to get back to blogging than with a food post?  It's a big part of our family's life.  Even with the quarantine lifestyle, there is always room for dessert.  This one is a winner!

If you love Reese's Cups or peanut butter M&M's than this dessert is for you.  Peanut butter and chocolate is one of our favorite combinations.  I know not everyone loves it like we do and we just try to keep that negativity out of our lives.  We can't help crazy.  ;)

While making this the other night, we accidentally missed the part where we were suppose to divide the peanut butter and instead put the whole 1 1/2 cups in the main cookie bar part.  BEST MISTAKE WE EVER MADE!   First thing my kids said was, "This taste like a Reese's."  You know its good with a response like that.

I got the recipe from here: http://triedandtriedagain.blogspot.com/2011/06/school-lunch-peanut-butter-bars.html but this is what we did a little different--

School Lunch Peanut Butter 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

1 1/2 C Creamy Peanut Butter (split) add the whole thing!  

2 Eggs

1 ½ C Quick Oats

Frosting:

½ C Butter (1 stick)

3 ½ C Powdered Sugar I used just under 3 cups, but a little more than 2.5 cups

2 T Cocoa

¼ C Milk (I use whatever I have in the fridge)

1 tsp. Vanilla

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, 3/4 C 1 1/2 C 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.

The frosting is a two step process. First, whip the remaning ¾ C  about 1/2 cup Creamy Peanut Butter until it becomes lighter colored and fluffy. Carefully spread the whipped peanut butter over the pan cookie.  This part is tricky because it will pull apart some of the pb bars if you aren't careful.  I get impatient and don't let it cool for the full 10 minutes, but when it's warm it melts the pb a little bit.   I used the back of a spoon.  The spread is really thin and doesn't go quite to the edge.  You can do more pb but I liked this layer thinner than it called for.

Then, add butter to a small sauce pan and melt the butter. Add the milk and cocoa. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Heat just until boiling. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Then, gradually add the powdered sugar. Stir until thickened. Pour over the peanut butter and gently spread over the cookie. Cool completely, and slice into bar cookies.

I'm pretty sure I just found my replacement for Reese's Cups!