peanut butter pretzel bars;

Cooooookies in bar form!  My desire to make this recipe really came from the fact that peanut butter cups were on sale, and I loooove me some fresh PB cups.  Have you ever had the really old PB cups that are like dried out and crumbly?  It’s not the same.  Have you ever had fresh off the Hershey’s press PB cups?  I actually have, and they’re AMAZING.  The peanut butter is creamier and as sugary as ever, and did I mention–it’s amazing?  I did a summer program called Institute of Leadership, Technology, and Management (ILTM) my junior year of college, and got work with the Hershey Company!  So needless to say we got a tour and also got to go to Hershey Park.  That was an awesome summer–we were working with a few really awesome companies and had some amazing speakers, often CEOs or VPs, from world-renowned companies like Boeing, Johnson & Johnson, Rich Foods Inc., etc.  But I digress.

This recipe is adapted from Amber’s recipe over at DessertNowDinnerLater, and will be a keeper!  It was quick and simple, and definitely tasty.  You can take this basic recipe and adapt to add whatever goodies you want!  I could see these as straight cookie bars, or mixed with a little mint extract and andes mints, or swapping some cake batter mix for some flour and adding some sprinkles!

I will note that when making this, the dough looked a little sparse in the 9×13″ pan, but it really did puff up and make some hearty bars.  T said that he was a little surprised at the lightness of the bars–he was expecting more like brownie density, when these are more like an airy cookie consistency.  I also opted to leave off the chocolate peanut butter drizzle, mostly because I’m lazy and didn’t feel like washing a few more dishes.  But if you did want to follow the original, I’ve included the optional instructions to basically microwave chocolate & peanut butter and drizzle it on top.  Enjoy!

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