Peanut Butter Mallow Bars

In my month of peanut butter, I have already posted Fluffernutter Cookies- a combination of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. Those were cookies though and I thought that making a bar cookie with similar flavors was sufficiently different. This made a small batch, which is great, but I may need to reevaluate this as school is starting soon. While things aren’t completely back to normal, it sure feels like there is going to be a lot more people around.

I have to say that I wasn’t sure how a bar cookie made in an 8” pan would use an entire far of marshmallow creme/fluff. Many recipes using 7 ounces of marshmallow crème are made in a 9” x 13” pan, but I will say that it make spreading the marshmallow easier. Since you spread the crème over the partially baked base, and some peanut butter chips, spreading the marshmallow is tricky. I was happy to have lots of mallow and no need for the layer to be perfect, so it was no problem at all.

I chose to use peanut butter chips in these bars, but you could use any number of ingredients. They suggest mini peanut butter cups, or chocolate chips, or something else that I haven’t though of! I wanted to keep these true to the peanut butter flavor, which is why I kept with chips of the same flavor. Piecing the top layer together is the hardest part of these bars, but I had plenty of dough for this to be successful. These bars are fantastic, with many similarities to the fluffernutter cookies I made recently. Can you ever have too much peanut butter? I don’t think so.

Peanut Butter Mallow Bars
1 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
7-ounce container marshmallow creme
1 cup peanut butter chips

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the peanut butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and butter on medium until smooth. Add the flour and baking powder and mix on low until combined.

Separate the dough into halves. Press one half of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes, and allow to cool for 20 minutes.

Once the base has cooled slightly, sprinkle with peanut butter chips. Microwave the marshmallow creme briefly (20-30 seconds) and then empty container into the pan. Carefully spread the marshmallow creme in an even layer, as best you can.

With the remaining half of dough, take small portions of dough and flatten them in your hands. Place them on top of the marshmallow creme, piecing the dough together until you have a consistent top layer.

Bake for 20-25 additional minutes, until the bars begin to brown along the edges. Refrigerate before cutting into squares.

Recipe from I Dig Pinterest