Happy Chinese New Year

We're celebrating the Year of the Rabbit with some more peanut butter chocolate crispy bars. They were so good that we made it again with more "crispy" to them. By some kind of luck, we had a snow day yesterday, so I made these early in the morning and popped them in the fridge to set. By late afternoon, half of the batch was gone.

This is currently the wallpaper on my laptop. Mmmm chocolate!

Such a good combination!

Let me out of the pan!

I packed up 3 boxes of these little treats. One for Howard's parents, one to stay at home, and one for me to snack on at work.

My dad had the brilliant idea of adding Osmanthus flowers to the crispy bars. So I made a batch without the peanut butter and chocolate topping for us to test. It is quite the success and I'm torn between which version I like better! The flowers give such a great aroma when you're combining it with the corn syrup mixture and the fragrant stays even after the bars are chilled!

Osmanthus Crispy Bars
Makes about one 8x8 square pan

1 3/4 cups of crisped rice cereal
1/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of sugar
3 tablespoons of corn syrup
3 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 1/2 tablespoons of dried Sweet Osmanthus flowers

1. Lightly spray a paper towel with nonstick cooking spray and use it to rub the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan.
2. Pour the water into a small saucepan. Gently add the sugar and corn syrup. Make sure none of the sugar or syrup gets on the sides of the pan. Use a wooden spoon to stir the mixture until combined.
3. Put a candy thermometer in the saucepan, cook over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Cook until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage, 235 degrees F.
4. Remove from heat, stir in the butter and Osmanthus until well combined.
   
5. Pour the mixture over the crispy rice cereal. Quickly stir until the cereal until it is thoroughly coated. Then press into the 8-inch square baking pan. Let the bars cool to room temperature, chill to set.
   

Peanut Butter Chocolate Crispy Bars

How are the holidays treating you? We've been spending time with family and friends non-stop since we got back from Las Vegas. I know I said I would have lots of time to finally tackle cake pops, but the days are just passing by!

For tonight's party, we made peanut butter chocolate crispy bars. You would think that something that doesn't require an oven would be easier to make, but nope, these took me just as long to "whip" up. But oh dear yum are they worth it!

Peanut Butter Crispy Bars
Adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking
(Makes about 9 squares)

1 3/4 cups of crisped rice cereal
1/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of sugar
3 tablespoons of corn syrup
3 tablespoons of unsalted butter
---
5 ounces of chopped milk chocolate
1 cup of creamy peanut butter
---
3 ounces of chopped milk chocolate
1 cup of Nutella
1/2 teaspoon of corn syrup

1. For the crispy crust: Lightly spray a paper towel with nonstick cooking spray and use it to rub the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan.
2. Pour the water into a small saucepan. Gently add the sugar and corn syrup. Make sure none of the sugar or syrup gets on the sides of the pan. Use a wooden spoon to stir the mixture until combined.
3. Put a candy thermometer in the saucepan, cook over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Cook until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage, 235 degrees F.
4. Remove from heat, stir in the butter and pour the mixture over the crispy rice cereal. Quickly stir until the cereal until it is thoroughly coated. Then press into the 8-inch square baking pan. Let the crust cool to room temperature.
   
   
5. For the chocolate peanut butter layer: In a large nonreactive metal bowl, stir together the chocolate and peanut butter.
6. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and cook (double boiler). Stir with a rubber spatula until the mixture is smooth.
   
   
7. Remove the bowl from the pan and stir for 30 seconds to cool slightly.
8. Pour the mixture over the cooled crust and refrigerate for about an hour or until the top layer hardens.
   
   
9. For the chocolate Nutella layer: In a large nonreactive metal bowl, stir together the chocolate, Nutella, and corn syrup.
10. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and cook (double boiler). Stir with a rubber spatula until the mixture is smooth.
11. Remove the bowl from the pan and stir for 30 seconds to cool slightly.
12. Pour the mixture over the chocolate peanut butter layer and refrigerate for about an hour or until the top layer hardens.
13. Cut into squares and serve!
    

I don't know how they make it looks so neat in the cookbooks photos, but at least I know mine taste and smell just as great. There are no more bars left, I think it's safe to say that these were a hit!