These are a favorite around our house at Christmas. What could be better than peanut butter and chocolate? I have two versions of this recipe. Both are good, and I will devour either one if it’s sitting in front of me, but my favorite version is Recipe #1. The second recipe contains oatmeal in the base, which gives it a nice chew (or crunch if you over-bake them).Recipe 1
Makes one 13x9 pan
1 cup sugar1 cup dark corn syrup
16-24 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (depends how much chocolate you like on top)
1½ cups peanut butter (either smooth or crunchy works)
6 cups Special K cereal
Cook sugar and syrup until bubbling. Add peanut butter. Stir until melted. Pour over Special K cereal. Spread over a large cookie sheet (I use a 17x12 inch size pan). Melt chocolate chips and spread over mixture. Chill in the refrigerator.
For a twist, I saved the insert of a chocolate box and pushed the Special K mixture into it. Then, I used a freezer bag to pipe the chocolate on top. After chilling in the refrigerator, they popped out of the mold easily. These bars are great frozen (and taste pretty good frozen too if you can’t wait for them to thaw).
Recipe 2Makes one 13x9 pan
2/3 cup unsalted butter1 cup brown sugar
½ cup light corn syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla
4 cups quick cooking rolled oats, uncooked
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup peanut butter (either smooth or crunchy works)
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Grease a 13x9 pan.
Cream butter and blend in sugar. Add corn syrup and vanilla. Stir in oats. Spread into pan. Bake 15 minutes. (Don't bake the base any longer, even though bars may not look cooked.) Let coll. Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter in a double boiler or slowly in the microwave. Spread over baked oat mixture. Refrigerate until chilled. Cut into bars.
Which one is your favorite?
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25 comments:
Yum! These look amazing. I love the star-shaped molds, too! Wow - delicious!
oh my gosh, these both look amazing! I could devour them, too!
I definitely like the first version, and the idea of a PB-chocolate mega bar is wonderful. Especially frozen...
I'll have to choose both. The chocolate peanut butter combo is my absolute favorite -
I pick both! lol
We call recipe #1 Special K Treats up in Montana. They are probably my favorite bar cookie/ treat ever! Love them and not that many people know about them. They are amazing and they taste delicious if you eat them right out of the freezer. Yum!
WOW!! I love peanut butter and chocolate together! I've been searching for a really good bar recipe with peanut butter in it. Those look amazing!
Those look so tasty! I love the star shape. You are so creative.
I LOVE peanut butter and chocolate, I can't think of a better combination. These both look great, but I think I'd try the one with oats first!
These look stunning and easy at the same time! Perfect for beginners like me.
WOW!Great blog!I love it!Delicious!
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My vote is for the crispy version. Now I have to go out and look for some molds today to make our treats to night.
These both look really delicious! I love how you have been playing with all the plastic containers! We don't have many here as most things are wrapped individually.
Perfect! I have all the ingredients in the pantry - I am definitely making the oatmeal ones for the kids.
Those molds are so cute. What a great way to do these!
Frozen treats, especially those involving peanut butter and chocolate make me smile!
;) amy
nope, i won't discriminate--i'll eat equal (and abundant) portions of each. :)
How could you ask me to decide!? They both look so delicious!
I can see why you made both versions- They each sound delicious!
What a great idea to use the insert from a candy box! I am always saving weird things like that and looking for some way to use them.
To answer your question-- very few things! ;) I love your mise en place pics!
My husband would totally love these. I love the star shaped ones, especially!
Hello - I choose the crunchy option with the oatmeal. I love the crunch, but I could not use cookie cutters to cut them out. They are still very yummy. Thanks for posting a quick and easy recipe just ahead of the holidays.
I've just made Recipe 2 and it is delicious. Very good. Thank you!
these look delicious! i will try this out when i have time :)
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