Monster Bars
Allow me to contradict myself. In just my last post, I begged you to keep chocolate and peanut butter apart. As with most "rules", there are exceptions, right? In my world, chocolate and peanut butter are not friends....EXCEPT in a monster cookie. I have always liked monster cookies, mostly because they feel more like a protein bar than a cookie. Anything that has as much peanut butter and oats as a monster cookie does shouldn't count as dessert. For some reason, when you put the chocolate chips and M&M's into this treat, the combo doesn't really bother me here. I've thought a lot about the reason why and I think it's because there is such a large amount of oats that it kind of dulls the peanut butter flavor. I have nothing to back that up, outside of my highly discriminatory taste buds, so let's just go with it. On Fridays I often end up baking some dessert for the weekend. It just feels like the right thing to do, and given the rain and cool temps of this particular day, it was for sure the right move. The girls and I decided to make this dessert extra special in honor of our hard-working main man, who loves peanut butter more than any other person I know. I had never thought of making monster cookies into bars, but this is brilliant, and SO much faster. Now that I am destined to be a forever-Minnesotan, I should just assume that I will always bake "bars". For whatever reason, Minnesotans call every kind of brownie a "bar". I'll stop talking about that now so that I don't get started on a rant about "egg-bakes" and "hot dishes". The regional differences in food labeling is always a source of amusement for me. Make these bars!
Monster Bars
-from http://simplyalexandramyfavoritethings.blogspot.com/ via Pinterest
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 1 c. brown sugar
- 1 c. white sugar
- 1 t. vanilla
- 1 1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
- 3 eggs
- 4 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
- 2 t. baking soda
- 2 cups M&Ms (I used dark chocolate M&Ms, because milk chocolate is gross to me)
- 2 cups chocolate chips
In large stand mixer, cream butter and sugars together. Add eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla and mix well. Add oats and baking soda, mix to combine, and then stir in chocolate chips and M&M's. Spread into a jelly-roll pan (I think this means it's about 11x15, at least that's the size of baking sheet I used) and bake for 15-20 min at 350 degrees. Watch this closely, you don't want to overcook the bars or they will be dry and crumbly. And that would be disappointing.