Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

I’m going to warn you right now, these things are very rich, BUT extremely good!  So if you are not a huge fan of extremely rich desserts, I’d stay away from these things.  When I saw these bars on Peabody’s blog, the recipe went straight to my “To Bake” pile (probably about 6 months ago).  Peabody took parts of this recipe from Caprial’s Desserts.  I think I should put this recipe book on my “To Purchase” list.  Peabody has made many recipes from it and they all look so good!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Quarters

(Recipe from:  Peabody)

1 cup cold unsalted butter, diced

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup peanut butter

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9×13 pan and set aside.

Place the butter and both sugars in the bowl of a mixer and beat on high speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl often, until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs and vanilla, then add the peanut butter and mix well.  Add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed until the ingredients are incorporated.  Increase the speed to medium and mix just until the dough is smooth.

Spread the cookie dough evenly in the greased pan.  Bake for 20 minutes.  If you want a less doughy cookie, bake for 10 minutes longer. 

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Layer

4 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

milk

In a mixer combine the cream cheese, peanut butter and sugar.  Mix on medium speed for about 3 minutes.  Add the milk slowly until it becomes a spreadable consistency.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Ganache

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup peanut butter

Place the chocolate chips and peanut butter in a bowl.  Heat the cream up to a boil.  Once it starts to boil, pour it over the chocolate chips and peanut butter.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  Stir until smooth.

Assemble:  Once the cookie dough layer is out of the oven, let it cool completely.  Spread the cream cheese layer.  Then follow up with the ganache layer.

Enjoy!