simply marbleous

Well I hope you all have been having a nice holiday season so far. I know I have enjoyed taking time to celebrate the birth of a new nephew (!), spend time with my family and loved watching Ruby get excited about Christmas. This was the first year she really "got" it and the magic and wonderment of Christmas has been brought back into mine and my husband's lives... we love it!

These chocolate peanut butter marbleous bars will really help you in the home stretch for finishing the year off strong. First of all, it's like eating a peanut butter Rice Krispy treat, but even better because there's chocolate and peanut butter swirled on top. They're a durable bar, holding their own against a bumpy car ride to their next destination (that's assuming you take these somewhere to share...).

Regardless of your sharing potential, munching on these bars while you're toasting 2015 just feels right. Happy New Year- catch ya on the flip side!

Marbleous Bars

Recipe adapted from my friend Bekka

Makes 24 bars or 48 squares

Recipe Notes-

- Originally these bars were supposed to have butterscotch chips melted into the chocolate, blended together and spread on top. While that’s a wonderful option too, I just felt it made more sense to use peanut butter chips to complement the peanut butter used in the bars. I also didn’t mix the peanut butter and chocolate chips because I like that marbled, swirled effect.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Light corn syrup

1 Cup sugar

1 Cup creamy peanut butter

6 Cups crispy rice cereal (aka Rice Krispy)

12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 Cup peanut butter chips

Directions:

1. Line a 9x13” pan with parchment paper, for ease of pulling out and cutting (or butter the pan generously if you don’t have parchment paper).

2. In a large pot, cook corn syrup and sugar over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter; mix well. Add crispy rice cereal and stir until well coated. Press mixture into the prepared pan and let cool slightly.

3. In a small, microwaveable bowl place the semi-sweet chocolate chips and melt slowly (I usually heat it for 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until it’s completely smooth).

4. In another small microwaveable bowl heat the peanut butter chips, using the same heating method in step 3, until they’re completely smooth.

5. Evenly spread the chocolate over the rice cereal mixture, then dollop the melted peanut butter chips over the chocolate. With the tip of a knife, swirl the peanut butter chips into the chocolate for a marbled effect (be careful not to mix them completely, a swirled look is desired).

6. Let stand until firm, or place in refrigerator to speed up the process, and then cut into bars or squares. Keep covered in an airtight container and bars should last 3 to 4 days.