Just Desserts: Peanut Butter

Peanut Butter Cookie Bars

I like to tell myself that when treats include healthy ingredients, they are actually good for me. This attitude has helped me justify eating entire pumpkin pies, scores of Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, and now these tasty Peanut Butter Bars for breakfast. Packed with protein, these bars will power you through your day, right?

This recipe came from Jo-Anna at A Pretty Life in the Suburbs and takes the hassle out of cookie baking.  Turning a peanut butter cookie recipe into a bar eliminates the time of cookie shaping and reduces the cleanup! These “cookie bars” take 15 minutes to mix up and are done baking in about 30 minutes – the perfect last minute treat to wow your friends at book club!

Here is Jo-Anna’s recipe with my notes:

Ingredients

• ½ cup butter (at room temperature)
• ¾ cup peanut butter
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• ½ cup quick-cooking oats
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ cup peanut butter chips (my bag was pb chips and milk chocolate chips – YUM!)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line a 9×9 square baking pan with parchment paper. (I used aluminum foil so I could lift it out to easily remove the bars from the pan after baking)
3. Cream together the butter, peanut butter, and sugars in a bowl with mixer until light and fluffy.
4. Add the egg and vanilla.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking soda and salt.
6. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and combine.
7. Stir in the peanut butter chips.
8. Spread the mixture into the baking pan, making sure it is smooth and level.
9. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes, or until the centre looks set.
10. Cool on a wire rack before cutting.

** Recipe slightly adapted from Taste of Home