clickinmyheels

Yesterday was my husband’s birthday. He’s not a huge dessert lover and can pass up ice cream most of the time, as opposed me. I swear it beckons me every time I open the freezer. And he could care less about chocolate. He does have a few weaknesses in the sweet category so I usually try to go for one of those for his birthday. Those are peanut butter, peanut butter cups, Butterfingers, caramel, and butterscotch. Last year, I made him a frozen peanut butter cup pie topped with chopped peanut butter cups. It was divine. This year, I opted to go for a butterscotch and peanut butter combo that I knew he would love. This recipe comes from Trisha Yearwood, I didn’t change it one bit. So give her the credit for the tasty creation! You can see her recipe here. The only slight change I made to her original recipe was the oats. I used old-fashioned oats instead of quick cooking because that all I tend to have on hand. My pan was a kind of odd sized so I made 1 and a half of the recipe because I wanted them to have a little thickness. This worked out perfect. They are quick to throw together and definitely satisfy that craving for peanut butter. Most of the ingredients are basic pantry staples that you have just waiting to be used for a special treat! The only thing I had to sneak and purchase while we were together at the store was the butterscotch chips. You could swap out the butterscotch chips for chocolate, heath bar chips, or whatever you like. If you want a little more crunch and saltiness to the bar, you could add a few chopped pretzels to the batter. You could also increase the chips of your choice and throw some in the batter mix, as well as just sprinkled on top of the bars like in the recipe.

Butterscotch Peanut Butter Bars

Ingredients: (makes a 9 x 13 inch pan)

1/2 C unsalted butter – softened

1/2 C granulated sugar

1/2 C packed brown sugar

1/2 C plus 1/4 C creamy peanut butter

1 large egg

1 teas vanilla

1 C all-purpose flour

1 teas baking soda

1/4 teas salt

1/2 C quick cooking oats. Old fashioned oats work fine too

1 C butterscotch chips

1 C confectioners sugar

4 TBS milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Using either a stand mixer or hand mixer, combine the softened butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and peanut butter.

I use the butter wrapper to grease my pan.

I just realized as I was typing this up that I totally forgot to add in brown sugar to my batter! Ha oops! They still tasted great! No wonder that batter looked so light in color.

Add in the egg and vanilla and mix until combined.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Mix the oats in the flour mixture.

Mix the dry ingredients into the batter until all incorporated.

Transfer the batter to the pan and gently press down with a rubber spatula or by hand so the batter is even in the pan. If you want the bars a little thicker, make 1 1/2 of the recipe.

Sprinkle the butterscotch chips over the bars.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

For the glaze, combine 1/4 C peanut butter, confectioners sugar, and milk. Whisk this together until smooth.

I let the bars cool for around 10 minutes before pouring the glaze on. They were still warm, but not too hot that they just soaked up all the glaze. Spread the glaze evenly over the bars.

Let the bars cool completely before cutting into squares.

The Birthday Boy had two squares!

Today is day 13 of my 21 Day Sugar Detox, so I resisted and just snapped a few pictures as my girls enjoyed their treat. Man, it was hard! I may freeze a square to save for myself for a post detox treat.

Enjoy!

Here’s my little writing buddy as I type this up. Talk about a big baby momma’s boy! I love this dog so much!