Wednesday, March 1, 2017

EASY PEANUT BUTTER BARS

What kind of a cook are you? Do you follow a recipe exactly or do you use it as a starting place and make it your own? Maybe the latter is a little extreme and you generally follow a recipe but might leave out ingredients (like I do with onions and peppers) or add a few especially spices? 

Almost before I was ready for it, Monday came and I found myself trying to find something to bake and take to Hillcrest Thrift Shop on Tuesday when I went in the "work" my usual shift at the register downstairs. Earlier in the day my husband and I had gone down there "to look around" while I got a record of trips I had made in 2016 for tax purposes. Not seeing him anywhere, I decided to drop in the book room and see if I could find anything for my grandchildren. Friend Jean came in with a cart full of books to put out and we started talking. I noticed the books were cookbooks and you can probably guess where I am going with this. I ended up buying 3 cookbooks and 1 book for my grandchildren. 

The good news was I found a recipe in one of them that I thought I would make and bring on Tuesday. The recipe called Easy Butterscotch Bars and called for butterscotch chips. I thought I had some but when I looked in my pantry, I didn't. What I did have though were peanut butter chips. Not having any other recipe that sounded exciting to me, I decided to just use the peanut butter chips instead.

Results? A deliciously tasting Peanut Butter Bar. Imagine a peanut butter cookie, but more moist, and more cakelike. That's what I came up with. I was a little concerned when I was mixing them up when I realized there was no baking powder, baking soda, or salt in them. When I mentioned this to Volunteer Betty yesterday, she asked me if there were eggs in the recipe. I told her, "three". She said they took the place of the leveling agents. I didn't know that. Guess you are never too old to learn something new. She reminded me that brownie recipes often won't contain those ingredients but will contain eggs.



EASY PEANUT BUTTER BARS

1        12 - oz pkg peanut butter chips
1        cup butter (2 sticks)
1/2    cup brown sugar, packed
1/2    cup sugar
3       eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2       cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 - inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Melt peanut butter chips in microwave, heating on High in 20 - second intervals, stirring after each interval until most chips have melted. Continue to stir to melt rest. (It took me 2 times to melt them.)

Soften butter in microwave
and add to melted chips.
Mix well.

Add sugars, eggs, and vanilla; mixing well.

Slowly blend in flour.

Spread batter in pan and bake for 40 minutes.

Cool in pan on wire rack.

Cut into squares.





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