PB & Boysenberry Bars

This past weekend I put two more dessert recipes to the test and I (along with my 'taste-testers') loved 'em both! The first is a twist on the ol' PB&J sandwich with a peanut butter and boysenberry preserves treat. It's sooooo tasty!

Ingredients

Makes about 3 dozen

* 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
* 3 cups flour
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 2 large eggs
* 2 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 cups boysenberry preserves
* 2/3 cup roughly chopped nuts, if desired

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with butter/spray, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the parchment, and coat inside of pan with flour; set aside. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add eggs and peanut butter; beat until combined, about 2 minutes.

2. Whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour. Add to bowl of mixer on low speed; combine. Add vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of mixture to prepared pan; spread evenly using your fingers. Using spatula, spread boysenberry preserves on top of peanut-butter mixture.



3. Dollop remaining third of peanut-butter mixture on top of boysenberry and again, use your fingers to spread out mixture evenly. Sprinkle with nuts if desired.

4. Bake until golden, about 45 minutes. Cool fully before cutting into bars.

ENJOY!!!

Note: original recipe (though very slightly modified here) from Marthastewart.com

6-Layer Bars - Easy and Excellent

Last week's baking included my hand at these 6-layer bars (originally 7-layer but I decided against the nuts). They were simple...and simply excellent! However, I will try to play around with the recipe, as the base of these bars was far too thin...maybe I'll include some oats in the next go 'round.


Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
6 ounces chocolate chips
6 ounces butterscotch chips
6 ounces coconut flakes

Directions:
Melt butter in bottom of 9 x 13 inch cake pan. Press graham cracker crumbs into pan. Pour can of sweetened condensed milk over graham cracker crumbs. Sprinkle chocolate chips and butterscotch chips and coconut over mixture. Bake at 350F degrees until coconut browns, (approximately 15 minutes). Let cool.

Note: original recipe (though very slightly modified here) from CDKitchen.com