I needed a little magic in my life so I created these bars!
Like a typical seven layer bar, but with some added twists.
The kids have offically been out of school for one week and my brain is already mush. What day is it today? Who has showered? You have a game tonight? When does your camp start? And they call me an organized mother.
We are all going in different directions and it's rare we're ever in the same place. Our first week has been filled with sweltering heat {go figure}, playing outside in the hose, attending basketball camp, lots of bike rides with friends, ball games and later nights with the hopes that all children will stay in their beds past 7 a.m.
It happened once.
One child slept in until 8:15 a.m. and I assumed the world was coming to an end. I was THIS CLOSE to going in and checking on her, but instead refilled my coffee cup and enjoyed the peace.
Summer break is hard.
On another note, I've been trying my best to eat better. I've drastically cut carbs {ahem, all breads are my weakness} and sugar {again, super weakness}.
So why am I posting this decadent dessert bar?
Because.
I'm the owner of this food blog and I do what I want.
And because with the kids home, I'd rather have them eat something homemade with memories of me baking for them, than some stale, crappy, fake dessert from the grocery store. So I got all daring and whipped up these bars yesterday. I allowed myself a very small corner piece {because, well, recipe development}, gave them one each for two days in a row and per usual delivered the rest out.
And let's be honest, when the kids are underfoot baking relieves some stress for me.
Do I have any peanut butter lovers out there?
I mean, honestly you should all be silently raising your hands. The only people who aren't are allergic and I'm fairly certain they'd raise their hands if they could.
I not only drizzled melted peanut butter over the crust, but then I dropped a WHOLE bag of mini Reese's peanut butter cups on top too. It's just enough to blend in with the buttery, Nilla wafer cookie crust and the millions of mini chocolate chips.
And a little sweetened condensed milk to bring all the stickiness together.
After these bars are cooled, cut them into bars and stick them in the fridge {especially in these hot temps}. Keeping them chilled is FABULOUS. They hold together well, do not get too hard and basically become that "thing" you dream about all day at work.
Get real fancy and plate one of these with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. My eldest asked for that exact dish last night after dinner, but I declined on the ice cream. I mean, I was already rotting his teeth out with this bar.....I didn't want to take it too far.
I'm all about balance.
Three cheers for summer desserts!
peanut butter, dessert, bars, chocolate, sweet treat
Peanut Butter Magic Bars
There truly is MAGIC to these bars. An incredible layered treat that is a bit crunchy, a bit sticky and full of chocolate and peanut butter!
prep time: 10 minscook time: 25 minstotal time: 35 mins
ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
- 2 cups Nilla wafer cookies, crushed
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup melted peanut butter
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1 cup mini Reese's miniature cups
instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray.
- In a bowl mix together the melted butter, crushed Nilla wafers and sugar together. Pack this mixture into the bottom of the pan.
- Drizzled the melted peanut butter over the crust and sprinkle on the mini chocolate chips, then drizzle the sweetened consdensed milk over that.
- Cover the rest of the crust with the mini Reese's cups.
- Bake for 25 minutes and allow to cool completely.
- Cut into 24 bars and keep in the fridge. They serve best when chilled.
Created using The Recipes Generator
