Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

If you're looking for an easy homemade treat

to bring to a holiday (or any other) party,

then you definitely must try these bars.

They have become my staple treat to bring

and they never fail to disappear by the end of the night.

I mean, who doesn't like chocolate and peanut butter together?

There are no fancy steps in this recipe,

it only requires a bit of time to allow the chocolate to harden.

The original recipe is from Mrs. Fields Cookie Book,

one of my first cook books,

which is filled with great cookie recipes (go figure!).

I altered a few of the measurements

to get a crisper crust

and a greater chocolate to peanut butter ratio.

Seriously, you MUST try these bars. 

Creamy Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

8 medium chocolate chip or butter cookies

3 Tablespoons salted butter, melted

2 1/2 cups (15 oz) milk chocolate chips

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/4 cup salted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.  Preheat oven to 350

2.  Process the cookies in a food processor until finely ground.

Add the melted butter and mix completely.

Press into bottom of 8x8 baking pan and bake for 10 minutes.

Cool to room temperature.

3.  Melt a little bit more than half the chocolate in a double boiler or microwave.

(I like a little thinner chocolate layer on the top)

Pour over the crust and smooth evenly.

Put in the fridge to harden.

4.  Mix the peanut butter and softened butter together until smooth.

Slowly add in the confectioners' sugar, then the vanilla.

Beat until smooth.

Spread the filling over the chilled chocolate layer.

Melt the remaining chocolate and spread evenly over the peanut butter layer.

Chill in the fridge about 1 hour until hardened.

Then, take it out of the fridge for another 30 minutes or so before slicing.

(The chocolate tends to crack if you try to slice straight out of the fridge)

The edges of my pan are sloped

so to get nice flat pieces that sit nicely on a plate

I slice off about a 1/2 inch strip all the way around the pan before cutting into bars.

Plus, this gives you little pieces to nibble on without eating a whole bar!

 I slice the pieces fairly small, because these are super rich.

Oh so Yummy!

Enjoy!