Reese's Peanut Butter Cup S'mores Bars

That's a mouthful for a name, right? These bars are certainly a delicious mouthful as well, as long as you enjoy peanut butter cups and s'mores mixed together, which I definitely do! I know I always say that my recipes are easy, but this is really one of the easiest and quickest ones I've made to date. It does not require a high skill level and the prep time is minimal.

My boyfriend is always saying I don't take enough pictures while I bake, so I decided to take more this time and do a "step by step" photo tutorial of how to assemble the layers. I don't think he understands that when I'm baking, I have flour, sugar and chocolate (among other ingredients) all over my hands, so it's kind of tough to grab my phone and snap photos with everything that's going on in the kitchen! I realized the day after baking these bars that I had Fluff crusted in all the crevices of my new iPhone 5. Ooops....


Reese's Peanut Butter Cup S'mores Bars
adapted from Mel's Sweet Life
makes 16 bars

Ingredients...

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 16 Reese's peanut butter cups, regular size
• 1 small (7 oz.) jar of Fluff (you won't use it all, but it's hard to estimate how much you actually need, so this jar will cover it!)

Directions...

1. Preheat your oven to 350 and line a square 8x8 pan with parchment paper. Spray with cooking spray if you have some, which I never do.
2. In a large bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients, including the graham cracker crumbs. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of your standing mixer, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in the egg and vanilla until combined, scraping down the sides as you go.
5. Slowly add the dry mixture to the bowl of your standing mixer, beating on low speed and scraping down the sides until well combined.
6. Press a little more than 1/2 of the dough in your paper lined pan. Then line up the Reese's cups like this:

7. Using a spatula, spread the fluff on top of the peanut butter cups so that they are totally covered. Try to leave a little space near the edges, if you can. It doesn't have to be pretty, as you can see...

8. Now, take the remaining dough and press it gently on top of the fluff. You're going to look at the dough you have left and say, "there's no way in hell I can cover everything with it." But you can. You just have to keep pressing it and spreading it around lightly. And you don't have to completely cover the fluff, it's okay! Look at mine - lots of fluff peeking through.

9. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the edges begin to brown. Lift out of the pan with the parchment paper and allow to cool for at least an hour on a rack.

10. Slice into 16 squares and enjoy!!