Gooey Good Bars

What's in a name? You would think with the word "gooey" in the title that this would be an instant hit. While it was well received by the audience, I was disappointed. I am my own worst critic. It definitely did not live up its title. I was expecting peanut buttery ooey gooey goodness but that is not what I got. I'm sure at this point you aren't interested in the recipe, but here it is. Like I said, everyone else loved them (and my adaptations-keep reading)


1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup oatmeal

Frosting:
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk

Cream together first five ingredients. Stir together flour, soda, and 1/4 tsp salt. Add to creamed mixture, mixing well. Stir in oatmeal. Pat firmly into a greased 15x10x1 inch baking pan. Bake at 375 degree for 12-15 minutes. Cool and frost with a mixture of the remaining ingredients.


Clearly, from the picture you can tell that I didn't follow this recipe exactly. I made these bars in a 9x13 inch pan and they were a little past done at 12 minutes. I can't imagine what they would have been like had the dough been spread even thinner in a 15x10 inch pan. I didn't have any powdered sugar in the house to make the frosting so I improvised. After I took the pan out of the oven. I threw most of a bag of dark chocolate chips over the bars. I let it sit for a couple minutes to melt. In the meantime I took about 1/2 cup of peanut butter and melted it for about 20-30 seconds in the microwave. I drizzled this over the chocolate chips. By now the chips had melted so I spread the PB/chocolate mixture over the bars. I'm convinced that this frosting saved the recipe. Had the bars been baked a few minutes less this recipe could have been a winner. For now, I'm sure I will move on. There are plenty more PB/choc recipes out there to tackle.
Until then,

Bake on!
-M

Source: http://cookie.betterrecipes.com/gooey-good-bars.html