DOUBLE PEANUT BUTTER CARAMEL COOKIE BAR
A delicious cookie bar composed of peanut butter, caramel, and a touch of chocolate.
I really love peanut butter. And so when I noticed that I had some Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Ghirardelli Caramel Squares laying around, it created a whirlwind of peanut butter-themed baking possibilities in my head. How could I incorporate these into a peanut butter dessert?
So many possibilities seem to create decision-paralysis with me. I want to add everything in my cupboard to the recipe, so I can create everything all at once. I don’t know if that makes sense, but that’s what happens.
I needed to focus. What was I in the mood for? Peanut Butter. So, double peanut butter will do just fine. Peanut Butter Frosting on top of peanut butter bars. But I was still thinking about those caramel squares. Caramel and peanut butter…. I have not yet done this! Not only did I have the caramel squares, I had a bottle of Ghirardelli Salted Caramel Sauce (I make fancy coffee drinks at home, you see!).
This was easy! Sandwich caramel sauce and chopped caramel squares in-between a peanut butter cookie bar. And, of course, top with peanut butter frosting. Oh, and add in the chopped peanut butter cups with the caramel squares. Sounds delicious to me.
I’ll just say… this is extremely rich. But what else would be expected? The bar has the texture of a soft but sturdy peanut butter cookie. By itself, this is rich enough. But then the sweet caramel pairs nicely with the natural saltiness of the peanut butter (as well as the fact I used salted caramel!). The chocolate caramel squares and peanut butter cups give it just the right contrast it needed to differentiate the varying flavors.
And the frosting made it over-the-top. I imagine you could forego the frosting if you’d prefer, but the creaminess of the frosting gives the rest of this cookie bar a nice bite. And it is also what makes this a “double” peanut butter bar. Although you could probably argue the peanut butter cups in the middle could count as the “double”, but I digress..
Recipe:
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Ingredients Section:
DOUBLE PEANUT BUTTER CARAMEL COOKIE BAR
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup Ghirardelli Salted Caramel Syrup (or other caramel sauce)
- 6 individual Ghirardelli Caramel Squares, chopped
- 6 Snack-Size Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, chopped
PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3 TBS butter, softened
- 1 cup peanut butter chips
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Directions:
DOUBLE PEANUT BUTTER CARAMEL COOKIE BAR
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
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Grease a 9×9 square pan.
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Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
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Beat together the brown sugar, peanut butter and butter until creamy.
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Add the oil, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Mix until combined (mixture will be thick).
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Evenly spread about one-third of the dough into the bottom of the pan.
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Spread the caramel over this.
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Evenly distribute chopped candy over the caramel.
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Now crumble remaining peanut butter dough over the top as evenly as possible (it’s okay if some of the middle shows through).
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Bake for about 20 minutes.
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Now prepare frosting.
PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING:
- In a small saucepan, whisk together milk and sugar.
- Add butter and heat on medium, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, until melted.
- Turn up heat to medium-high, and continue stirring until mixture starts to boil.
- Allow to boil for 1 minute without stirring.
- Remove from heat, and immediately add peanut butter chips, whisking briskly until smooth.
- Now whisk in powdered sugar until combined.
- Pour the hot frosting over warm brownies.
- Allow to cool completely before cutting.
Notes about this recipe:
- I found that ‘chopping’ the Ghirardelli Caramel Squares pretty much squeezed all of the caramel out. To help minimize this, you can cut the Ghirardelli Caramel Squares in half instead of chopping.
- I used regular creamy Jif Peanut Butter for this recipe. I have not tested it using natural peanut butter.
