Food Recipes:Delicious and Fun

Sometimes simplicity is more appealing than complexity. These PB bars from “Baked” were just the key, very simple and the oven didn’t even get turned on. I adore baking but sometimes I dont want to cross my fingers and hope I did everything right. With a recipe like this everything is done and finished fast. The crispy layer is the first thing you do and is the only possibly tricky thing as it involves a bit of sugar/syrup work, but I think the idea of boiling sugar is much worse than the actual process. The other 2 stages are simplicity itself, if you can melt chocolate you can make it. They are also addictive but then I should have known they would be, I mean chocolate and peanut butter in a bar! no question it was going to be good.

Peanut Butter Crispy Bars “Baked: New frontiers in Baking”

Yields 9 Bars: (I would suggest cutting into smaller bars due to the richness) 

For the Crust

1 3/4 Cups Crisped Rice Cereal

1/4 Cup Sugar

3 Tblsp Light Corn Syrup (Glucose for us in the UK)

3 Tblsp (42.5g) Unsalted Butter, Melted

For the Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer

5 Ounces (140g) Good Quality Milk Chocolate

1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter

For the Chocolate Icing

3 Ounces (85g) Dark Chocolate (60 to 72% Cacoa) Coarsely Chopped

1/2 Tsp Light Corn Syrup (Glucose

4 Tblsp (57g) Unsalted Butter

1. Lightly spray a paper towel with nonstick cooking spray and use it to rub the bottom and sides of 8 Inch square baking pan. (because of the stickiness of the base I had some trouble removing it so next time I would line with parchment like with brownies and coat this with the spray)

2. Put the cereal in a large bowl and set aside. Pour 1/4 cup water into a small saucepan and gently add the sugar and corn syrup. Gently stir the mixture with a wooden spoon or spatula until just combined. Attach a sugar thermometer to the pan and heat the mixture until it reaches 235F, soft ball stage. 

3. Remove from the heat, stir in the butter, and pour the mixture over the cereal. Working quickly stir to coat the cereal thoroughly and evenly and our into the prepared pan. Using your hands or the spatula press the mixture into the bottom of the pan in a level layer. Let the crust cool whilst making the next stage.

4. In a large non-reactive metal bowl stir together the chocolate and peanut butter. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water and heat until the mixture melts and is smooth. Take the bowl off the pan and stir for 30 seconds to cool slightly then pour the mixture over the crust twisting and turning the pan to get an even layer. Refrigerate for an hour or until this layers hardens.

5. In a large non-reactive metal bowl combine the chocolate, corn syrup and butter and heat as in the previous stage until completley smooth. Take of the heat and stir for 30 seconds to cool before puring over the peanut butter layer again twisitng and turning to ensure a flat even layer. Refrigerate for an hour to allow the icing to harden before cutting.

Tightly wrapped the bars will keep for 4 days in the fridge.