Choco-PB Oat Bars

“Ooo, piece of candy!” – James Woods

I know a lot of people who can’t have certain foods in the house. For example, my friend Katie and I constantly lament the fact that neither of us can keep peanut butter in the house. For me, peanut butter is one of those, “at least it’s out of the house” foods. As in, you have one bite, then two, and ten minutes later you feel awful and half the jar is gone but you tell yourself you have to just eat the whole thing because then “at least it’s out of the house.”

There was a time I was so worried about over-eating peanut butter that I only allowed myself to have powdered peanut butter in my apartment. Yes, you read that right, powdered peanut butter. It’s also know as PB2, and you basically mix this brown powder with water, stir and then voila: it’s kiiiiiind of like peanut butter. The only real upside I see to PB2 is that it’s very low in calories, so it was great for me when I was being unhealthily obsessive. Also, in hindsight, I’m guessing I’m not the only one who saw that as PB2’s appeal, because I learned about it on a “weight loss” (read: pro-anorexia) site called Undressed Skeleton. That’s right, I was taking advice from a person who was proud to be touting around her eating habits and recipes as something to make others proudly skeletal. But back to the peanut butter.

The truth is, since getting healthy (and I’m still on the journey, folks) no food is off-limits because it’s not scary in the way it used to be. I’m able to distinguish my own voice through any sort of “food noise” in my head. But I still sometimes have to say to myself, “Dani, you really should think before bringing that home. (that same phrase can also be helpful in late-night romantic endeavors, fyi)

However, when I saw the bright box of Reese’s Pieces, autumnal-colored peanut butter candies, on the shelf at Safeway, the only thought I could hear was, “you have got to make some sort of fall dessert with those.”

And so, I picked up a box, some other scrumptious ingredients (including creamy PB) and whipped up a batch of these awesome little squares by riffing off of an old recipe I found on Pinterest. The recipe didn’t use the whole jar of peanut butter, but luckily, I was able to contain my PB-loving self and not eat what was unused. I did, however, make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich the day after making them, and let me tell you, the real things knocks the crap out of the powdered stuff.

Choco-PB Oat Bars

Ingredients:

Oat Layer:

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup of packed brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp kosher salt

1 ½ cups instant cooking rolled oats

Choco-PB Layer:

2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1 14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk

1 bag (12 oz) semi sweet chocolate chips

2/3 cup creamy peanut butter (and not the all-natural, oil on the top kind, I’m talking the bad-for-you-good-for-dessert kind)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Reese’s pieces for a snazzy garnish.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Prepare a 9-inch square baking dish by lining it with tin foil and leaving overhang on two sides. Butter the foil and any sides inside the pan that are not covered.
3. Using a hand mixer, cream ½ cup (1 stick) butter along with the brown sugar until the mixture is a soft, beige color, and light and fluffy in consistency.
   
4. Add the egg and vanilla, and continue to beat the ingredients until they are all evenly incorporated (about 30 seconds to a minute)
5. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the flour, baking soda, salt, and oats, and mix on low until all the dry ingredients are evenly moistened. (You may need to stop a few times to scrape down the sides of the bowl, and scrape some of the dry ingredients off the bottom of the bowl, to make sure everything becomes saturated with the butter mixture)
   
6. Take a little over half of the oat mixture and press it evenly into the 9-inch baking pan. If your fingers start to getting sticky, moisten them with a little bit of water, but take care not to press down if your hands are, like, dripping wet. Hold onto the rest of the oat mixture for the topping.
7. Make the filling by placing 2 tbsp of butter, the entire can of condensed milk, the chocolate chips, and the peanut butter in a medium sized saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir with a whisk as the butter and chocolate melt. It will become a shiny, fudgy mass, and you want to make sure you keep stirring, so that nothing gets burnt or stuck to the bottom of the pan.
   
8. Once everything has melted and come together, remove the saucepan from the heat (remember to turn off the burner) and stir in ½ tsp of vanilla.
   
9. Pour the choco-pb mixture on top of the oat layer in the prepared pan and spread it out evenly using a spatula.
   
10. Take the leftover oat mixture and scatter it on top of the choco-pb layer. Remember, the oat mixture is sticky, so it’s not going to scatter, so much as drop, awkwardly, in little puddles on top of the chocolate. Don’t worry, it’s gonna be great!
11. Sprinkle the top with the Reese’s Pieces candies.
    
12. Bake for around 18 minutes, until the oat topping has turned a beautiful, golden brown.
    
    
13. Allow everything to come to room temperature before picking up the foil overhang and transferring it, and the bars it’s holding, to a cooling rack in the fridge.
14. Chill the bars overnight.
    
15. The next day, use a knife to slice the fudgy, chocolate, peanut-buttery awesomeness you’ve created into shareable squares.
    
    
    

    

    Fancy Packaging

    

    And if you look to your left, you'll see an eye ask I bought at a CVS.

PS. These bars are amazing! They really come together once they’ve chilled, and they become almost like a candy bar. If my mom hadn’t told me that you never eat Halloween treats that aren’t wrapped because somebody might have put razor blades in them, I would give these out on the 31^st to allll the little kids in my building. 

Til next time,

D