Crisp cookie crusts, fudge-y chocolate and peanut butter filling, and an explosion of colors. Just perfect for a summer afternoon snack, picnic food or holiday dessert.
Cook’s notes
They’re neither brownies nor blondies. They’re more shortbread cookies except that there’s baking powder, and real shortbread contains no leavening agent.
Two layers of butter cookie crust and, in between, a blanket of dark chocolate and peanut butter morsels swimming in a pool of sweetened condensed milk. They are already perfect at that point but why not make them prettier?
So, into the butter cookie dough that forms the crusts went a handful of colored sprinkles. And the result is a kaleidoscope of colors and textures.
One last thing. The ingredients list says half a cup of sweetened condensed milk… Half a cup? Won’t all that liquid run down the sides of the squares when cut? As you can see from the photos, no liquid drips anywhere. The sweetened condensed milk acts as a binder and gives sweet bars a fudge-y texture.
Chocolate and peanut butter bars
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup cold butter cut into small cubes
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup multi-colored sugar sprinkles (available in baking supply stores)
- ¼ cup peanut butter morsels
- ⅓ cup dark chocolate morsels
- ½ cup sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Line the bottom and sides of a 7″x11″ baking pan with non-stick paper.
- In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
- Cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Stir in the egg and sprinkles (the mixture will be loose and crumbly).
- Press two-thirds of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Scatter the peanut butter and chocolate morsels over the crust.
- Pour the condensed milk over everything.
- Sprinkle the remaining crust mixture evenly on top.
- Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
- Transfer to a rack and cool completely.
- Cut into rectangles or squares.
Oats, nuts and chocolate bars