Peanut Butter Rice Krispie-Topped Brownies

So I've moved halfway around the world, started pastry school...and baked nothing. We are supposed to begin the actual baking portion of the course today, with bread, so that should be interesting. And even though I haven't baked anything in the past week, as promised I am here to deliver on what I stand behind as the most delicious dessert of 2011 (still in competition with this key lime tart, but as they are so different I shall allow them to remain on a pedestal together). I present to you: Peanut Butter Rice Krispie-Topped Brownies. OK, so I'm not good at naming. 

Peanut Butter Fudge Bars

All the no-bake recipes I have seem kind of similar: rice krispies, peanut butter, chocolate. So while these peanut butter fudge bars aren't all that revolutionary, they were in fact delicious. And still a little different than these.
This recipe, which came from cookiemadness.net, makes bars that have three distinct layers, but each layer still has all of the great flavors throughout.

The bottom layer, has chocolate and peanut butter and rice krispies. The trifecta, if you will.
Mix that up together over heat with some butter, and press it into the bottom of the pan.

Next up is a layer that has butter, peanut butter and icing sugar. Why icing sugar? No idea. But it works. Trust me. Spread that evenly over the bottom layer.
After that, sprinkle some more rice krispies on top - why on top instead of mixing them in? Got me again! I wouldn't question this recipe though.
After that is the final step, which involves a chocolate and peanut butter coating for the top. This one is a little more tricky to spread, since the rice krispies you just sprinkled on top really want to mix in with the chocolate. But you can do it.
After that, just pop in into the fridge for a little while to chill, and voila, you have crispy peanut butter fudge bars. What a treat.
They were really delicious, and I happen to like mine chilled, but you could eat them at room temperature as well. A few of them separated their layers a little, and lost their tops or bottoms, but most of them stuck together pretty well. I used a 9x5" loaf pan and cut them up pretty small into little bites, but because there is no baking time to adjust, you could really use whatever pan you want - you'll just have different thicknesses of the layers.
I like mine just the way they are.

Tip of the Day: Though most recipes will call for you to melt your butter, chocolate, peanut butter - you name it - in a saucepan or in a double boiler (meaning a bowl over your saucepan), if you're careful and do it in short sessions your microwave will work just fine for this.

Recipe: (from Cookie Madness)

3.5 ounces chocolate (about a heaping 1/2 cup of chocolate chips), divided
1/2 tbsp butter plus 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup peanut butter, divided
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup powdered sugar (to taste)

Line a 9×5 inch loaf pan with non-stick foil.

Melt 1 1/2 oz chocolate with 1/2 tablespoon of butter.

Stir in 1/2 cup of peanut butter. Add in 1 cup cereal.

Spread in bottom of lined pan and chill for 15 minutes.

Melt the remaining 1 stick of butter and salt together.

Stir in remaining 1/2 cup peanut butter. Stir in powdered sugar to taste.

Pour a little less than half of the peanut butter mixture over the chocolate crispy mixture. Sprinkle remaining ½ cup of cereal on top, pressing it gently into mixture.

Melt remaining 2 oz chocolate. Add to remaining peanut butter mixture and carefully spread over Rice Krispies.

Chill until firm, then cut into cubes.

Chewy Brown Sugar Bars

I don't like nuts. Peanuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios. I don't like 'em. Peanut butter -now that's another story. Can't get enough of it - creamy of course. It's just something about the texture of nuts - it's weird, not like anything else - that I can't take. Which may sound weird, considering I've been known to enjoy a piece of tofu now and that, but it is what it is. That said, I'm constantly coming across recipes with chopped nuts - and finding ways to innovate.

These were originally called Brown Sugar and Honey Pecan Bars (recipe here), but of course I lost the pecans. So they became Chewy Brown Sugar Bars. With rice krispies!

For this recipe, I used something I rarely bring out for baked goods. This baby:

For the base of this cookie, I pulsed together the flour, sugar and salt, and then added the butter to create a very crumbly mix. It could probably be done without the food processor, but with alot more work.

Anyway, after I pressed the mixture into the bottom of a 9x13" pan, and baked it for 20 minutes. While that was baking, I made the top part, by melting butter and adding in salt, brown sugar and honey, and let it simmer for one minute. After removing it from the heat, I added cream, vanilla, and where I should have mixed in pecans, rice krispies.

(Here is normally where I would show you pictures of those steps. But I was actually on the phone when they occurred, and while I can manage to multitask enough to bake and talk at the same time, I can't quite bake, talk and photograph.)
After you spread the mixture on top of the base, it bakes for another 18 minutes. Then let it cool to room temperature, and stick it in the fridge to firm up.

After I left it in the fridge for a while, I pulled it out to cut into bars.


I even had to take a break it the middle it was tough. I used a big chef's knife to cut through it easily. And of course I had to taste the corner. It was good - like nothing really I've made before. The top was chewy and had a nutty-brown sugar/honey taste. I liked the two different layers - the cookie bottom and the chewy top. I think that they actually got chewier as time went by - there was definitely a noticeable change in the texture after a day.

Tip of the Day: Brown sugar is always measured as a "packed" cup - which means you press the sugar down into the cup with your fingers to make sure it's as full as possible.

Recipe: (from Cookie Madness)

Crust:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsps cold butter, diced

Filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3 tbsps honey
1 tbsp whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup rice krispies (or coarsely chopped pecans)

Crust:

Mix flour, brown sugar and salt.

Add butter and mix until coarse crumbs.

Press into the bottom of an 8 inch foil lined pan and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Filling:

In a saucepan, melt the butter, and stir in the sugar, salt and honey. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and cream. Stir in rice krispies or pecans.

Pour over crust and bake for another 18 minutes. Remove and let cool for an hour on a rack before refrigerating until firm. Cut into bars.

No-Bake Deliciousness

My friend Sarah studied abroad this past semester, and she's been bugging me the whole time to do a recipe that requires no baking, as she's limited to a toaster oven.
(Which reminds me of the year I lived with only a toaster oven and a communal microwave, but that's another post.)
So now that she's about to leave, I finally got around to making my favorite no bake recipe, that I got from my Aunt Ann a couple of years ago, and have been making ever since. But Sarah doesn't really like peanut butter anyway, so maybe she'll be less mad. Or more mad.

Anyway, these are peanut butter chocolate rice krispie bars, and they are delicious, and so, so easy. Seriously, these can be done in ten minutes, and there are only 5 ingredients, that you probably already have in your pantry.
First, you dump the peanut butter, sugar and honey together in a bowl. It should look like this.
Then, microwave it at intervals of 25 seconds, until you can mix it together easily and it looks like this. It should take about 3 bouts of microwaving.
Once it's well mixed, you're going to pour in the rice krispies - so you should start this recipe out in a big enough bowl to mix. Otherwise you'll end up like I did, with a few stray rice krispies on the counter and floor.

Quickly work the rice krispies into the peanut butter mix until they are all coated, and there is no more mixture stuck to the bottom of the bowl. When I gave this recipe to my friend Tali, she was so concerned about working quickly that she made a friend measure the rice krispies while she mixed the peanut butter and honey. I wouldn't worry that much, but I also wouldn't answer the phone while you're doing this. Only because if the mixture cools down too much, it'll make it much harder to mix.

When all the rice krispies are coated, press the mixture evenly into the bottom of a 9x13" inch pan.
Then its time to melt the chocolate, and spread it over the base. This helps them stay together when you cut them up, and of course adds chocolate! I used a 12 ounce bag of chocolate chips, but you can use less or more depending on how much chocolate you want. The 12 ounces just about covers the pan well.
Spread it carefully, so that you don't disturb the rice krispies underneath. You could always stick the pan in the fridge or freezer for a little before adding the chocolate, but I certainly don't have that much patience.
Once you've spread the chocolate, stick it in the fridge or freezer to firm up. I like to leave it there, and enjoy my treats cold, but you can leave it in the fridge or at room temperature as well - it'll just be a little softer.
Cut them into squares, or rectangles, or triangles, or whatever your heart desires.

Now, you're probably wondering what those bars are sitting on in that first shot. I've shown you alot of counters and tabletops and strange places to leave your baked goods in the past couple months. In fact, so far you've seen my old table, my old table covered with a blue tablecloth, my new counter, the range on top of my new oven, the kitchen counter, dining room table and kitchen table of my family home, and even my desk at the office.
But this, well this is actually the ping-pong table in the basement of my parent's house. That, in the background? Those are my dad's weights. I feel like now I've led you on an true exploration of my life. Through baked goods. It's almost like those commercials, where the dad takes his daughter's stuffed animal on his business trip and photographs it in all the places he goes.
So, in that spirit, here are the peanut butter rice krispie bars in my freezer:
Yep, that's vegetable soup in the background. Mmmmm.

Tip of the Day: Always use a metal rack to place your cakes and cookies on after you pull them out of the oven - it can cut your cooling time in half. Don't have one? You can stick it on top of the stove in a pinch, but make sure you turn the oven off!

Recipe:
Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Bars (from Aunt Ann)

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup honey
1/2 cup sugar
5.5 cups rice krispies
Approx 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate.

Place the peanut butter, honey and sugar in a large bowl.
Microwave together until easily mixed.
Quickly stir in the rice krispies until completely coated.
Press into the bottom of a 9x13" pan. Melt the chocolate and spread on top.
Refrigerate or freeze until firm.

Turtle Bars?

These are turtle bars. Well, my version anyway. You'll see why.

(Yes, those are the classy paper plates with flowers)

I wanted to make something new and a little different, and so when I stumbled across the recipe, and realize that it was something unlike anything I'd made before, and that I had all the ingredients already, I was hooked.
For those of you who don't know, Turtle Bars are a bar cookie that generally have a cookie base, a caramel and nut middle, and a finishing chocolate layer. I got my recipe here.
So - adjustment number one: I don't really like nuts. I love peanut butter in almost anything, but real chunks of nuts in my food - not my thing. So, in these, I actually just sprinkled a layer of rice krispies in place of the nuts.
But the most important part of this recipe was the caramel: I got to make it myself! I'd never done that before. It basically involved melting butter and brown sugar together until it looked like this:
Exciting no? Although I was a little concerned that there just didn't seem like enough. If I were to make these again, I would probably double or least make 1.5 times the amount of caramel.
All in all, they were pretty good, and definitely something I'd try again, but maybe with a few more modifications.

Tip of the Day: If you're looking to substitute the nuts in a cookie or cake recipe, try rice krispies or a cereal like grape nuts - so you don't lose the crunch factor.