Summer Chillers: Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

It was 90 degrees here today. Finally, a hot summer day! The kind of day where there’s nothing to do but spend it in the pool. We did drag ourselves back inside late in the afternoon once our skin was sufficiently pruney and bronzed.

When I started scratching up something to make for this week’s edition of Summer Chillers, I knew that I did not want to turn on the oven or the stove top.  So I called my mom to get this recipe. She informed me that this actually came from the school cafeteria where she taught before I was born. Don’t let that scare you though. It doesn’t taste anything like cafeteria food. That was back in the early 1970’s, and no one yet cared what their children were eating in school, so things still had sugar, fat and flavor in them.

Anyway, class, the only heat source you will need for today’s lesson is a microwave.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar Recipe

3/4 C of Butter or Margarine, melted plus a little more

3 Cups of Peanut Butter

3 3/4 Cups of Powdered Sugar

1 Tsp Vanilla

5 ounces of Chocolate Chips

Melt the butter in the microwave. Mix together the melted butter, peanut butter and powdered sugar. Press into the bottom of a 9×13 inch pan.

In the microwave melt the chocolate chips with a little bit of margarine. (This is how recipe was written. I used about a tablespoon.)

Spread the melted chocolate evenly over the peanut butter mixture. Refrigerate for two hours before cutting into squares and serving. And you must eat these things with milk. A LOT of milk. They’re good, but that’s a whole mess of peanut butter to wash down.

Melting Chocolate in the Microwave

Up until a few moths ago I melted chocolate the old fashioned way, in a double boiler. I got brave one day and decided to try it in the microwave. While it’s quicker and easier, it must be done very carefully. It takes only a few seconds too long to turn you chocolate into a hard, burned mess. How do I know? Let’s just say experience is the best teacher.

So put the chocolate in a heat proof bowl. Glass is better than plastic. Nuke it at 30 second intervals, stirring each time. Chocolate can deceive you by holding it’s shape even though it’s actually melting. When most of the chocolate is melted, take it out and stir until it’s smooth. A few remaining chunks will be dissolved by the chocolate that’s already hot and melted.

The same goes for melting butter in the microwave. It only takes about 30 seconds to a minute. You can melt it most of the way, then finish it up by taking it out and stirring. If you over cook the butter it will splatter, and you’ll have a nice greasy mess to clean up. I learned that hard way too.