the peanut butter slide

Don’t get too excited.

#1 – I did not invent a new dance move called the peanut butter slide

#2 – There is no recipe in this post, just a lot of photos of peanut butter + chocolate, that turned into a sliding mess.

All I wanted to do today was make peanut butter cups.  Somehow I got the brilliant [or dumb] idea to make peanut butter cup bars.  I was thinking it would be so easy to spread everything into a pan and then just cut individual squares.

This should have been a cake-walk recipe.  How could I screw something up that uses no flour and doesn’t have to be baked?

Do you remember in science class when you would write out the steps to the Scientific Method for all of your experiments?  Sometimes I feel like I’m in science class.  Today was one of those days.

  • Ask a Question
    • Can peanut butter cups be made into peanut butter cup bars?

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  • Do Background Research
    • I scoped out a slew of peanut butter cup recipes, and adapted it into a simple version.

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  • Construct a Hypothesis
    • If I melt the chocolate, then freeze it for 10min, I can spread the peanut butter filling more easily and then top with chocolate and set in the freezer.  After letting it set, I can cut the pan of deliciousness into bit sized bars.

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  • Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment
    • The experiment was making the recipe using the method above.

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  • Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion
    • My data shows that this method did not work.  It turned into an oozing, cracked, messy, fail.  Where did I go wrong? 
      • too much peanut butter filling
      • didn’t leave an open edge around the peanut butter filling for both chocolate layers to touch + bind together
      • didn’t think the bars needed to be completely solid before cutting

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  • Communicate Your Results
    • Communicated through photographs.

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While they may have tasted great, cutting these was not easy, and they ended up looking pitiful.  Fine to munch on at home, but not to hand out as a gift!

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A few hours later, I took the pan out again to cut a few more squares and had a very “duh” moment.

The bars needed to be frozen solid before cutting!!  They were much easier to chop that way.

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While I may have solved part of the problem, the peanut butter to chocolate ratio was still a bit skewed.  Not to worry, round 2 is complete + will be photographed tomorrow.  Simple recipe coming your way soon.

Because I know this is just what you need, the day after Halloween.  A peanut butter chocolate recipe.  Stellar timing on my behalf. 

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I’ll wait a few days and hopefully you’ll have your sweet tooth back!

Ashley