Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bars

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The Christmas season has officially arrived and with it comes the onslaught of family get-togethers and office parties featuring pot luck foods and treats loaded with sugar. Like I did last year, I have decided to use the Holiday season as a time for satisfying my sweet tooth and have committed to creating a couple of new holiday treats. This year the treats will be very simple and only require a few ingredients.

For this recipe, I use one of my favorite breakfast cereals growing up – Peanut Butter Crunch, which was introduced as part of the Cap’n Crunch line of breakfast cereals in 1969. I thought that the crispy texture and peanut butter flavor would be perfect for a homemade candy bar. I use chocolate candy coating, or almond bark, melted in the microwave and mixed with peanut butter as the binder and coating for the treat. For a sweet surprise with each bite I include English toffee as a compliment to the Peanut Butter Crunch, resulting in a decadent treat that comes together in minutes.

BEHIND THIS BITE

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bars

I saw a show on the Cooking Channel recently and a chef in New York was featured for having made chocolate covered breakfast cereal a signature item at his candy shop. They showed him tempering the chocolate and bringing it to the perfect temperature, it took a lot of work and expertise to do what he was doing.

Watching this guy make the perfect chocolate coated cereal got me thinking. I could do the same thing but make it easier using candy coating. That is what lead to creating this treat. I was going to use frosted flakes originally but when I was at the grocery store looking for them, I happened to come across Peanut Butter Crunch. I immediately grabbed the box and changed directions. I made a treat similar in concept to this back in May, and thought a few modifications would make it the perfect chocolate peanut butter bar.

I'm not much of a treat maker, so its simplicity makes it perfect for me. I intentionally used the microwave with this one rather than a double boiler, just to make it more appealing to less experienced cooks. A tasty Christmas treat without having to turn on the stove is perfect for the culinary-challenged!

Eat well, cook often ...

THE RECIPE

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bars

Makes 50 treats;
20 minutes active, 2 hours inactive
1 lb Chocolate candy coating
1/2 C Creamy peanut butter
2 C Peanut Butter Crunch cereal
1 C English toffee bits

Melt candy coating, add peanut butter
Place candy coating in a microwave safe bowl and heat on high in 1 minute intervals, stirring between each, until completely melted and runny. Add peanut butter, stir until well incorporated.

Finish, scoop and cool
Add cereal and toffee bits, stir until well combined. A tablespoon at a time, scoop and place on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Let cool completely, then serve.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Buckeyes

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Since I can remember, every Christmas my Mom has made buckeyes. She makes a number of sweet delicious treats during the holidays but these yummy peanut butter and chocolate delights are hands down my favorite. There have been a number of occasions in the past where I have single-handedly wiped out entire trays of buckeyes.

Mom got this recipe more than 30 years ago from a woman she used to bowl with and it has remained a holiday tradition in our house ever since.

For this version, I add my own twist. Traditional buckeye recipes call for the top portion of peanut butter to be exposed to make the treat look like a buckeye nut. This will cause the peanut butter to dry out after a couple days. To avoid the dry peanut butter my mom coated the entire surface with chocolate. I have taken this smart idea a step further and coated the top portion of the buckeye with a peanut butter topping. It might not look like a buckeye, but it does taste like a delicious holiday treat!

BEHIND THIS BITE

This is the treat I look forward to most at Christmas, and I'm happy that I was able to include it here in my collection of recipes. When I started this, my full intention was to make traditional buckeyes – with the top part of peanut butter exposed. My Mom had always covered the entire treat, and I asked her why. She said she did that so the peanut butter wouldn't dry out. I thought that was a good idea, but I had already made a batch. That's when I thought that I would put another coat on to cover the peanut butter, but instead of using chocolate I used melted peanut butter chips to retain the look. After covering the top I realized that they no longer looked like buckeyes, but I was ok with that. I think that the peanut butter covering dripping down the side gave it a winter like hat - perfect for a Christmas treat.

While writing the 200-word introduction for the newspaper version, I wrote a line that I eventually had to leave out. It was another of my pig-out statements – one of a thousand that I have come up with since starting the column. That's the beauty of the web – no space constraints!

Here is the line about me scarfing on buckeyes in the past that didn't make the print version:

"I must have looked like a relapsing sugar junky who had broken into a Reese’s Candy Factory."

Eat well, cook often ...

Peanut Butter Cookies with Bits of Toffee

Recenlty my aunt, who is also a good friend and mentor, was informed that she was in for a pretty tough fight, health-wise. This prompted those who know and care about her to organize a benefit to help with the cost of expensive medicines and treatments that she will need to prolong her life.

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Part of the benefit involved a bake sale. I really don’t have much experience with baking. Most of the dishes I make seem to be what one would typically eat while watching football. I took the bake sale as a challenge and decided to make cookies.

My favorite candy bar is a Heath Bar – made of chocolate covered toffee. My favorite cookie is peanut butter. For this recipe, I combine the two, and create a peanut butter cookie with chunks of toffee covered in milk chocolate. It took me a couple of tries to perfect, but in the end, I was able crank out a large quantity for the bake sale and every one of them sold. The benefit was a great success and it inspired me to create a yummy new cookie recipe.

BEHIND THIS BITE

Recently on this blog, I mentioned that I was back living in New York City. I had been there for almost a month with my girlfriend when my aunt got sick. I decided (with my girlfriend's blessing) that it was a good idea to be around my family to help out with the situation. I packed up my belongings and returned to Churubusco, Indiana.

My aunt was diagnosed with lung cancer and given 18 months to live.

It was a huge shock to our close-knit family.  Everyone is dealing with it well and my aunt has settled into her treatments and is doing great, given the circumstances. I've been spending Wednesday evenings with her. We hang out in the kitchen and I've used those nights to experiment with recipes.

This cookie recipe was created in her kitchen.

The first batch was a disaster, the second was good. The third try - well, this is the third try. These cookies are outrageously good and you get lots with this recipe. After all, it's designed for a bake sale. For a snack version at home, just use half of all the ingredients.

Life can throw a punch from time to time, so you always need to be prepared to remain upright once one lands. I'm grateful to be in a situation that allows me to spend time in New York and then, if I need to, back in Indiana with my family. I hope my aunt can defy the odds and make it through this disease, and I hope to make many more recipes with her.

Eat well, cook often ...