Utterly Peanut Butter Bars

Yesterday, I saw a recipe from C&H Sugar for Peanut Butter Bars that had peanut butter in both the crust and filling. It sounded great so I thought I would try the recipe this afternoon.

When I had finished with the mixing and preparing the pan, I must admit I wasn't optimistic. In raw form it didn't appear to be very substantial. Imagine my surprise when it was done to find that, though the bars are not thick, they are extremely flavorful with a rich peanut butter taste sweetened to perfection by both brown and white sugar.

The recipe was a winner in C&H Sugar's 1999 Baking Contest and was created by Norita Solt.
Crust Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
1/2 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Crust Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F. In medium bowl mix butter, peanut butter and sugar until well blended. Stir in vanilla. Add flour and mix well. (Mixture will be crumbly.) Reserve about 1 cup of this mixture for top. Firmly press remaining mixture into bottom of lightly greased (or sprayed) 9” x 13” baking pan.

Filling Ingredients:

2 eggs
2 tbsp. peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 cup Golden Brown Sugar, packed

Filling Directions:

Beat eggs, peanut butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar together. Spread over unbaked crust. Sprinkle with reserved crust mixture. Bake approximately 20 minutes, or until set and top is golden. Cool in pan and cut into bars.

This recipe makes about 24 bars.

Recipe Source: http://www.sugarpiesfood.com/2009/09/utterly-peanut-butter-bars.html