Glazed Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

I promise that one of these days I'll post a recipe with some variety of nutritional substance, but alas - here is another desert brought to you by peanut butter.

Glass of milk NOT optional. 

This recipe starts off much like that of the Peanut Butter Oatmeal Scotchies I posted earlier this week, but after a few modifications to the recipe it gets pressed into a jelly roll pan and baked up as bars... Then covered with chocolate, then covered with a delicious peanut butter glaze.+

Note: This post brought to you with the help of my assistant, Dexter.

Typing is tricky... It's nice to have the help. 

Start in the bowl of an electric mixer with the softened butter and peanut butter. Mix the butters together thoroughly.

Once the peanut butter is combined with the regular butter, add in the sugar and the brown sugar and mix until everything comes together and looks something like this.

We have officially moved to the part of this recipe where
things taste good when sampled.

At this point, you're ready for eggs and vanilla. Add them to the bowl and mix on medium speed for about 20 seconds, until just incorporated then add the flour, salt, baking soda, and the oats and mix until a stiff dough is formed. 

Gently press the dough into a lightly greased 12x17 jelly roll pan. Try to build up a little mound around the edges kind of like a pizza crust. make sure the dough is evenly dispersed - it's really easy to leave thin spots.

Place the cookie crust in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, While it's in the oven, make sure you have a good work area that is big enough to handle that 12x17 hot pan. We have a few quick steps to tend to after the sheet is baked.

Ready to melt some chips

As soon as the cookie crust is baked and a nice golden brown color, remove it from the oven and place it on a hot pad, stove top, or other heat resistant surface. We will have to move quick for the next step!

Next, take an entire 11-12 ounce bag of chocolate chips (or butterscotch, or as I did, peanut butter chocolate chips) and spread them evenly over the top of the hot cookie crust. 

Let them sit on there for a few minutes to let them melt, then spread them evenly over the surface of the crust with a icing spatula. I used a 4'' angled frosting spatula, but you could use a regular silicone spatula or whatever you have on hand.

Ready to chill for a bit.

Once the chips are melted and spread on the crust, move the whole operation to the fridge to set. Make sure you allow time for the pan to cool before placing it in the fridge - you don't want to melt any shelves in there. Leave it in the fridge for about 30 minutes or until the chocolate layer on top is well set.

While the bars are cooling in the fridge, go back to the mixer, and get ready to make the glaze. This has only three ingredients - confectioner's (powdered) sugar, milk, and peanut butter. Also, this is one of those things that is hard to accurately convey in a recipe. play with the amounts until the consistency is right. A good place to start is with the amounts I put in the recipe - 2 cups confectioner's sugar, and 1/4 cup each of peanut butter and milk.

All you need to do is throw it all into a clean mixer bowl with the whisk attachment and blend it all together.Make sure to start on a very low speed and use a pour shield if you have one to avoid a sugary mushroom cloud erupting from the bowl.

The target consistency.

If the glaze comes together too thick - sort of like a frosting - add a splash of milk and blend it in, repeating as necessary to thin out the glaze. If it is too thin, add more confectioner's sugar about a teaspoon at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. You want the glaze to be thin enough to run freely off of the whip but thick enough that it doesn't disappear into the bowl as it lands. You should be able to see that little trail like in the picture above. 

Dump the glaze into the center of the crust, and spread out evenly

Before

After

Once the glaze is spread out nice and evenly on the bars, it's back to the fridge for that glaze to set. Leave it in for about an hour this time. 

After 60 minutes in the fridge...

After 61 minutes...

Here's the full recipe!

Heat the oven to 350 degrees**

Crust:


1 cup       Butter, Softened
2/3 cup    Peanut Butter, Smooth
1 cup       Sugar
1 cup       Brown sugar, Packed
1-1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract, Pure
2 eggs     Large
2 cups     Flour, All Purpose
1 tsp       Baking Soda
1/2 tsp    Salt
1 cup      Oats, Regular rolled or instant 

1 11-12 oz package chocolate chips (any variety you like)

Glaze:
2 cups   Confectioner's Sugar
1/4 cup  Peanut Butter, Smooth
1/4 cup  Milk

Instructions:

1. Mix the butters together in an electric mixer.
2. Blend in the white and brown sugars.
3. Add in eggs and vanilla, mix thoroughly.
4. Add in flour, salt, and baking soda, mix.
5. Add in oats, mix.
6. Spread onto a lightly greased 12x17 jelly roll pan (a cookie sheet with sides)
7. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 or until dough is firm and golden brown
8. Remove crust from oven and promptly sprinkle with chocolate chips
9. Allow the heat of the crust to melt the chips for about 4 minutes 
10. Spread the melted chocolate evenly over the crust, then refrigerate for 30 minutes
11. While chocolate is cooling in the refrigerator, make the glaze by mixing the confectioner's sugar, peanut butter, and milk together in a electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment.
12. Adjust glaze to proper consistency as needed by adding milk to thin it or confectioner's sugar to thicken it.
13. Once first chocolate layer is cooled, spread glaze evenly over the top of the chocolate layer.
14. Refrigerate once more until the glaze sets. 
15. Cut in to bars.

Yield: approximately 50 2'' x 2'' bars

**For the sake of your taste buds and your unborn baked goods, use an oven thermometer. When the preheat alarm tolls I found my brand new (well, 9 month old) oven to be off by about 8 degrees at this temperature. It was off by a lot more at higher temperatures. A decent model oven thermometer can be had for ten dollars or less at almost any grocery store.