Food I Love - Scrumptious Chocolate Peanut Bars

This recipe right here is what you want to have in your refrigerator for snacking in between meals or late night trips to the fridge :).  Trust me you really want to watch your portion with this one because it is so dang good you be going for seconds and thirds. I made a full tray of these, popped it in a jar and kept in the fridge and before I could say B-a-r-s,  it was all gone!.

I found this recipe on the pack of my land o lake butter and it is surprisingly easy to make for something so delish!

Ingredients For the Crust

2 Cups Flour

1 Cup brown sugar

1/2 cup Butter 

I cup Trail mix ( optional, this is my twist, I wanted it healthier. I had to pick out the M&Ms from the mix )

Peanuts (Original recipe called for Pecan nuts, I used peanuts because it is more readily available in Nig)

Ingredient for the Caramel Layer

1/3 cup butter (Original recipe called for 2/3 cup)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup semi or sweet  chocolate chips

Method

1. Heat oven to 175C. Combine all the crust ingredients except peanuts and trail mix in a large bowl.Mix until it resembles fine crumbs. Press onto the bottom of an ungreased baking pan. Place peanuts and trail mix evenly over unbaked crust.

I popped my peanuts in a blender a bit, BUT I would recommend leaving them whole

2. Combine butter for caramel and brown sugar in a saucepan and heat over meduim heat, stirring constantly until entire surface of mixture begins to boil. continue cooking, stirring constantly for 1min. Pour mixture over peanuts and crust.

3. Bake for 18-22mins or until entire caramel layer bubbly, (DO NOT OVER BAKE :) ). Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with chocolate chip so chocolate can melt. cool completely and cut into bars.

Voila!!! A happy snack your family, friends and tummy would thank you for!

Tried it?  let me know what you did differently and how it came out.

Bon Appetit!

 VERDICT : Great snack, very easy to make, very tasty too!. To make it healthier next time I would attempt to use more assortment of  nuts and dried fruits  , whole wheat flour and low fat butter or even margarine, and would I let you know how that tastes compared to this.

The recipe called for 2/3 cup butter for the caramel,  I used 1/3 cup I was too scared of the calories, mine turned out with very little caramel topping which is perfectly  fine for me :). If you want more topping, then by all means use 2/3 cup butter. I baked for a full 30mins to achieve the bubbly caramel top in my oven, baking time would vary depending on your oven, just look out for the bubbly caramel top.