Peanut Butter Pleasure Surprise Bars

This bar was inspired by a friend of mine who thinks peanut butter makes every baked good tasted better. In this case he was absolutely right.

Think of this bar as a cross between Seven-Layer Bars and Peanut Butter Scotcheroos. I took these bars to work and literally had a coworker moaning with every bite. Another coworker suggested I should enter these into a competition at the State Fair. I will definitely serve these bars at the bakery I own some day.

ingredients.

1 1/2 c. butter, browned
1 box graham crackers, crushed with a rolling-pin
2 14-oz cans sweetened condensed milk
1 18-oz jar peanut butter
2 c. butterscotch flavored chips
2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 c. flaked coconut
2 c. chopped walnut
2 c. dark chocolate chips

directions.

Preheat oven to 325°
Place the butter in a pot or and melt over medium-low heat. Cook the butter while rotating pot in order to swirl the butter around. The butter will foam and then slowly settle. The butter should be turning a golden color and you’ll see specks of brown forming. Remove from the heat.
Mix the browned butter with the graham cracker crumbs in a 15×11 glass baking dish and pat down.
Cook condensed milk and peanut butter over low heat until combined. Pour half the mixture on top the graham cracker crumbs.
Top with remaining (except for the dark chocolate chips) in the order listed. Drizzle the remaining amount of condensed milk/peanut butter mixture on top. If the mixture has become too thick you may want to thin it out with some evaporated milk. Top with dark chocolate chips.
Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and spread the dark chocolate over the top if the chips have not melted. Cool completely before cutting and serving.

I had major problems with the condensed milk and peanut butter thickening too much while cooking on the stove. I ended up pouring evaporated milk on top the bars after they had already been baking for about five minutes in order to thin out the mixture, which is why I recommend doing this on your stove top if you think your mixture is becoming too thick. I would have preferred the condensed milk/peanut butter mixture permeate the layers instead of chilling out on top. Regardless, the bars stand alone as they are as I made them.

Recipe rating: 