Try to think back to eating lunch in the high school cafeteria. Although every school was different, you probably had some favorite meals that your lunch ladies whipped up—and you had no idea how to replicate it yourself. Now that we have you thinking back, did you ever experience the delicious glory of sheet peanut butter bars? For those who don’t know, these were a cross between a peanut butter cookie and a sheet of frosted brownies that are absolutely delicious.
Fortunately, we’ve cracked the code—we have a great recipe for sheet peanut butter bars that will take you back to childhood. We have to warn you, though: these bars are so good that you won’t be able to keep them around your house for very long. For that reason, don’t make these if you’re trying to follow a diet of some kind! With that being said, let’s begin.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 cups of flour
- 2 cups of sugar
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter
- 1 1/2 cups of unsalted butter (3 sticks)
- 1/2 cup of milk
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 4 cups of powdered sugar
Here’s what you do:
1. To start off, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In the meantime, get a large cookie sheet and grease it or line it with parchment paper. Next, mix together your flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a side bowl and set it to the side.
2. In a separate bowl, combine your 1/2 cup of milk, vanilla extract and your eggs and keep it to the side as well.
3. The most intensive part of the recipe is to make the actual peanut butter batter, which you’ll do over the stove in a saucepan. First, melt one cup of butter (or two sticks) along with one cup of peanut butter in a saucepan. Once it’s combined, take it off the heat and add in your flour mixture along with your milk and eggs. Mix everything together until it’s evenly combined.
4. Once your batter is ready, pour it onto your cookie sheet and spread it around evenly all the way to the edges. Once your oven is heated up, bake the entire thing for 20 minutes and test it with a toothpick. If the toothpick can come out clean, it’s ready! Let your bars cool before you move on to the frosting.
5. Finally, you get to make your peanut butter frosting. Get a saucepan and throw in one stick of butter and a half cup of peanut butter, bringing it to a boil. Add two tablespoons of milk and gradually add your powdered sugar, stirring constantly until it’s all well combined. Once it’s all mixed, pour your frosting over your bars and spread it out evenly. Let the frosting cool and set in the fridge and you’re ready to go!
Even if you never had these as a kid, these peanut butter cookie bars are truly one of the greatest inventions since sliced bread. The soft consistency, the peanut buttery flavor and that added sweetness of the frosting all combine to make something that your family will ask you to make again and again.
Although the recipe above is pretty straightforward (and honestly pretty much perfect), those who want to add some extra boost to this can also mix in some chocolate for another layer of flavor. Maybe consider putting some chocolate chips in the brownie mix after you melt it down and pour it out? We leave the experimentation up to you.
Have you given this recipe a shot? Tell us what you think in the comments.
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