Bars – Page 2

At Spencer’s request I made these yummy bars 🙂 They were very easy and quite delicious!

Peanut Butter S’mores Bars
(Recipe from The Sweet Life)

Makes: 16 large/20 small squares

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

16 peanut butter cups, regular size

1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8×8 baking dishing with parchment paper; coat lightly with cooking spray (don’t forget the sides).
In a large bowl of the bowl of stand mixer, beat butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Scrape down the sides. With the mixer on low, stir in the flour, baking powder, salt, and graham cracker crumbs until mixed.
Spread 2/3 of the dough on the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Lightly press the peanut butter cups into the dough, then spread marshmallow fluff on top. Press the remaining dough on a non-stick surface into the shape of an 8×8 square. Place the square on top of the fluff and press down lightly.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the edges just begin to brown. Allow to cool for at least two hours* to give the bars a chance to set, then remove from the pan and cut into squares with a large, sharp knife.

*We only let them sit for an hour or so because we were too hungry 🙂 They were great warm but also very good the next day once they had set in the refridgerator.

I leave for home in 4 days! In the meantime, I have lots of meal points to spend and lots of time to procrastinate from studying! I saw this recipe from Tide and Thyme and remembered that the little grocery store on campus (where you can use meal points) sells Nutella, cream cheese and mini Oreos! Perfecto!

Nutella Cheesecake Bars

Recipe Type: Dessert

Author: Mackenzie

Serves: 16 bars

Recipe from Tide and Thyme

Ingredients

2 cups Oreo crumbs (1 8oz pgk of mini oreo bites is equivalent)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
16 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup Nutella

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter an 8×8 baking dish and line with parchment paper, making sure that the parchment is well pressed into the corners. Set aside.
Now you can do this two ways 1) with a food processor or 2) with a mixer. The original recipe calls for a food processor but as I am limited on cooking items in my dorm kitchen I just used my hand mixer.
In a food processor, pulse Oreos until they become crumbs or crush the Oreos in a Ziploc bag. Add melted butter to food processor and pulse until moistened or put the Oreos and the melted butter in a bowl and combine until moistened. Press Oreo mixture evenly into the bottom of your baking dish. Bake crust until set, about 12 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Clean out the food processor or bowl. Add cream cheese, eggs, sugar, ¼ cup heavy cream, and vanilla. Pulse or beat until smooth. Put 2/3 of the cream cheese mixture in a bowl and set aside. Add Nutella and 1 tablespoon of heavy cream to the remaining 1/3 cream cheese mixture in the processor or bowl and pulse or beat until smooth.
To assemble: spread the plain cheesecake mixture over the cooled Oreo crust, being careful not to upset the crust. Pour the Nutella cheesecake layer on top of the plain cheesecake layer and spread evenly. Be careful to pour the Nutella part all over so you don’t mess up the layers when making it even. Bake on the center rack of the oven for about 35 minutes, or until the center jiggles slightly. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a cooling rack. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Mackenzie

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