Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Swirled Cookie Bars

Ever since social media has arrived on the scene, with sites such as Pinterest and Instagram, my cookbook buying has dwindled to almost nothing.  I've also eliminated a lot of my collection as I hardly used them. This blog now serves as my personal cookbook, I rarely turn to recipe cards, cookbooks, or newspaper clippings; I just come here to find our family favorites. My Pinterest boards are filled with recipes, many of which I know I will never get around to making!  Anytime I get a whim for something I just do a search and, voila!, recipes abound everywhere.

I was perusing Instagram while parked outside my granddaughter's school, awaiting the end-of-school bell.  I came upon a posting by Half Baked Harvest for these bars.  Chocolate chips?  Peanut Butter? Yum! I instantly knew what my granddaughter and I would be doing that afternoon!

Baking with kids is always an experience.  She is really into being a teacher these days so she wanted her "class" to observe our baking session.  She set her dolls up in a line and I had to act like a baking instructor and explain each step of the procedure.  It took longer to make the bars than it should have but she was entertained and happy.  That's what Nanas are for!

These bars are so easy to make.  They are basically the standard Toll House cookie recipe in a bar form with the addition of a layer of peanut butter.  We couldn't wait for them to cool off and were eating them while still warm.  The peanut butter was oozing everywhere but they were so good! A big glass of cold milk is a must with these!

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Swirled Cookie Bars

2 sticks ( 1 cup) salted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 (12 oz.) package semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until creamy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until combined and creamy. Beat in the vanilla.  Add the flour and baking soda and beat until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Spread 1/2 the dough into the prepared dish.  Dollop, and then gently swirl, the peanut butter into the dough. Top with the remaining 1/2 dough. (Don't worry if the dough doesn't fully cover the peanut butter, it will spread during baking). Transfer to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, until just set in the center.  Let cool and cut into bars.

Recipe adapted from Half Baked Harvest.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bundt Cake

During this crazy time of year known as "tax season", my Hubbers and I literally work 7 days a week.  Sundays have become my favorite work day. I can wear my yoga pants to work.  There are no phones ringing, no clients to talk to (I love my clients, but it's tiring explaining tax law all day long!) I turn on some music or listen to the latest drag race on audiocast and work on more complicated projects. I usually have a game plan going into the weekend, a list of projects that I want to complete. It keeps me focused and gives me a sense of accomplishment as I head into Monday and the chaos that will ensue. On a recent Sunday I finished everything on my list by 12:30, my goal had been 2:00.  I was quite happy with myself and ready to tackle some other projects, to get ahead of the game.  But first I had to upload my client's QuickBooks file that I had worked on all morning. Alas, none of my journal entries were there!  It seems I had been working in the wrong dated file! Ugh, I had to retrace my steps, re-do everything and re-do the tax return I had just finished. By the time I did that I was behind schedule. I headed for home so I could play in the kitchen a bit and de-stress.

I have been wanting to make this chocolate bundt cake for a while now, so I put the butter, eggs, milk and sour cream on the counter to come to room temperature.  While I waited for that I hunkered down in my craft room and worked on a quilt block. It seems I was ripping out more seams than I was sewing.  I don't know if it was from lack of concentration or my brain was really tired, but I just kept messing up! I'm a perfectionist, like all my seams and points to be perfect, so rip, rip, rip I went!  I finally got the block done.  I looked at the clock and it was 6pm!  Dinner hadn't been started, nor had the cake.

I worked on the cake batter while simultaneously cooking rice on the stove and getting veggies in the oven. Thankfully, my Hubbers was grilling the tri tip! The cake came together wonderfully and we sat down to eat right after I got the cake in the oven.  About 10 minutes later we started smelling some burning.  The cake was overflowing the pan! I re-read the recipe and it warned that the cake pan should only be filled 3/4 full, the extra could be used for cupcakes.  Obviously, I missed that part of the instructions! By the time the cake was done I had a nice little charred mess on the bottom of my oven , which will need to be cleaned soon!

It seemed everything I touched that day was a disaster! Despite all the miscues of my day, the cake turned out delicious.  It is tender and moist.  The chocolate and peanut butter batters compliment each other nicely.  The peanut butter glaze is amazingly good! A piece of cake and a glass of milk and all was right in my world once more!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bundt Cake

3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 cup sour cream, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups milk, room temperature
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 cup creamy peanut butter

Peanut Butter Glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3-4 tablespoons half & half (or enough to achieve thick drizzling consistency)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour (or using baking spray) a bundt pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a stand mixer beat butter on medium speed for 1 minute. Slowly add the sugar and beat until combined until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl as necessary. Beat in the sour cream and vanilla.

Add half the flour mixture, then half the milk, and beat until just combined.  Add remaining flour mixture and milk and beat until just combined.

Transfer half the batter to a medium bowl. Stir in the melted chocolate. Stir the peanut butter into the other half of the batter.

Using a separate spoon for each batter, alternately dropping spoonfuls of the chocolate and peanut butter batters into the prepared bundt pan. (Fill your pan 3/4 full.  If batter remains, use it in a smaller pan or for cupcakes.  Trust me on this! See above!) Use a knife or spatula to swirl the batter together being careful not to overmix.  You want the batters marbled.

Bake for 60 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

To make the glaze, combine all glaze ingredients in a bowl and mix until you get the desired glaze consistency. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Swirl the batter just enough to get a marbling of the batters.