Make 'Em and Hide 'Em!: Peanut Butter Fingers

 

Before Christmas, I was lamenting the "death" of the snail mail Christmas card. Perhaps I should have taken a lesson from Mark Twain. You might recall his famous line: "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

By the time Christmas arrived, we did get some cards. I appreciated every single one.

One card from a college friend offered an "assignment" of sorts. Along with a brief update of life, she included a recipe. Becky said this:

I'm pretty sure you have every recipe known, but I thought you might get a kick out of this one from my Mom's recipe box.

I've never been one to turn down a recipe - or a challenge. How could I resist the handwritten note by Becky's mom at the end of the recipe?

Cool; cut into bars and hide 'em!

That made me laugh. And surely it gave me a preview for the tastiness of the recipe. So I made Peanut Butter Fingers from Becky's mom and served them as one of the cookie selections for the Core meal I did this past week. 

I should have taken a photo earlier in the evening when I still had full containers, but it still shows the variety available.

 

I only had four of the bars left over at the end of the night.

 

In case you'd like to try them too, here's the recipe. 

Peanut Butter Fingers

From Becky Miller's mom 

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup flour

1 cup quick oatmeal

**

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar

1/4 cup peanut butter

2-4 tbsp. evaporated milk 

 

Cream butter, 1/3 cup peanut butter and sugars. Add egg, vanilla and salt and blend until well incorporated. Add flour and oatmeal; mix. Spread in greased 13- by 9-inch pan. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes. (I baked it 20 minutes.)

 

Remove from oven and sprinkle with 1 cup chocolate chips. (I used mini chocolate chips.) Let stand for 5 minutes. 

 

In the meantime, combine sifted powdered sugar, 1/4 cup peanut butter and the evaporated milk. Mix well.

 

After the 5 minutes are up, spread the melted chocolate evenly over the cookie layer. Then drizzle peanut butter mixture over the chocolate. 

 

Cool; cut into bars and hide 'em!

 

Notes:

• I had chunky peanut butter in my cabinet. My attempts to use a decorator tube to actually drizzle the peanut butter mixture were not as attractive as I wanted for serving away from home. So after my drizzle, I lightly spread out the peanut butter drizzle on the bars. 
• While the topping was still wet, I also sprinkled with Peanut Butter Mini M&Ms - again, just making them pretty for serving. You can find the PB Mini M&Ms in the candy aisle at bigger grocery stores. 
• I only used 2 tablespoons of milk. This may depend on humidity, etc.  
• Becky's mom didn't indicate how many bars this recipe made. But, since she called them "fingers," I cut them into narrow bars.