Good Eating Monday: Easy Peanut Butter Cookie Bars!

Today's Good Eating Recipe is my creation: 

Peanut Butter Cookie Bars!

I'm not so good with baking cookies---I either get busy or forget and miss the timer going off, so my cookies end up being a little on the dark side.That's why I prefer "bar cookies" in a 10 x 13 pan.

So I decided to figure out how to turn two packets of
Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookie Mix into
a 10 x 13 pan of bar cookies.

Peanut Butter Cookies are, in themselves, a fairly dry dough, since you roll them into balls in your hands to make them.
 To make them work in a 10 x 13 pan as bars meant increasing the liquids called for on the cookie mix packs just enough to make the mix spreadable in a pan, yet not so much to make them cakey.
They need to retain that peanut butter cookie texture to be just right as a bar.

So, it took me 3 tries to get the right ratio. The first try was too thick, but tasted perfect; the second try was too cakey and the final try was just right.
You'll need 2 packs of Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookie Mix, which is all natural ingredients now, plus eggs, oil and water. 

You must use oil. That's what the mix  originally calls for and that's what makes the texture right. No subbing.

I used coconut oil; use whatever oil you prefer for baking.

I like to add Reeses Peanut Butter chips, which makes these bars even yummier!These bars are rich and satisfying and actually make a good power snack.

So here's my recipe:

Easy Peanut Butter Cookie Bars

Ingredients:

2 packs of Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookie Mix

2 large eggs, beaten

1/2 cup oil  

1/2 cup water

Optional: 1/2 cup to 1 cup Reeses peanut butter chips

Directions:

1)  Preheat the oven to 350. Spray a 10 x 13 pan with oil cooking spray.

2)  Empty cookie mix packets into a large bowl. Add oil, water and beaten eggs, then stir mix until just combined. Stir in Reeses chips. Mix will be thick.

3)  Using a rubber spatula, scrape the mix from the bowl into the baking pan, then, press the mix out over the bottom of pan with the rubber spatula so it's roughly even.

(Giving the pan a good thump or two on the counter and a shake back and forth will help the mix settle.)

4)  Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes or until middle tests done. The middle will swell during baking, but sinks a little once cooled.

When done, remove to a cooling rack and let bars cool.

Cut into 32 narrow bars. 

******

Enjoy