Gooey Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Mrs. Melanie Hancock introduced me to these delicious bars. I'm so glad she did! They were such a big hit and really easy. They pretty much taste like a gooey chewy reese's cup :) Here's what you'll need for the bars

Yellow cake mix, butter, vanilla, eggs, peanut butter, chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, pecans (optional), and peanut butter chips. Melt 1 stick of butter in a mixing bowl

Add in the cake mix, vanilla, eggs, and peanut butter

mix well

Press into the bottom of a 9x13 dish (reserving 1 1/2 cups for the top)

Now prepare the chocolate filling. Combine chocolate chips, condensed milk, and 2 Tbs. butter in a small pot

 Cook on medium-low, stirring constantly until all the chocolate chips are melted. Stir in vanilla and chopped pecans

Pour over the uncooked peanut butter layer.

 Crumble the reserved 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter dough on top of the chocolate. Sprinkle a handful of peanut butter chips around the top

 Bake. Remove from oven and let the bars cool

 Let the bars set up at 3 hours before cutting into squares. Serve and enjoy :)

Store in an air-tight container up to about 4 days.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Combine:

1 pkg. plain yellow cake mix

1 stick melted butter

1 c. creamy peanut butter

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Press this into a 9X13 pan reserving 1 1/2 c. of the mixture to crumble on top.

Melt in pot:

1 (11.5- 12 oz) pkg. milk chocolate chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 T. butter 

Remove from heat and add:

2 tsp. vanilla

1 c. coconut, chopped pecans, peanuts, walnuts (optional) (I used pecans and I barely noticed them)

Spread chocolate mixture over the mixture pressed in the pan and then crumble the 1 1/2 of reserved cake mixture on top. Sprinkle a handful of peanut butter chips around the top of that. Bake for 20-30 minutes at 325 degrees. Do not let these get brown and hard (I took mine out of the oven when they were just past the 'jiggly' stage in the middle.) They are way better a little under cooked than over cooked. Cool completely before cutting into bars. Store in an sir-tight container up to 4 days.