Ever So Slightly Naughty Peanut Butter Cake Bars

Bit of a mouthful isn't it? The title, I mean, not the food, that all depends on how you cut it. No, I mean the title, it's a bit long, not very catchy, but, to be honest, this recipe is what the title says, no catchy way about it. Well, none that I can think of. Sadly, the long title means that I don't really need to talk to you all about how yummy but ever so slightly naughty it is, or how peanut buttery it is.


Damn.


Well, whatever.

I love peanut butter. It's second best to Nutella, and that's no exaggeration. Loads of my friends seem to have favourites, they prefer nutty or smooth. Me? Well for me it tends to depend on my mood. And what there is lying around. At home there is usually nutty, but at school we now seem to be getting smooth. Not that I care in the slightest. I mean, as long as there IS some, who cares? Apparently, peanut butter is very good for you, high in protein and all. My brother loves the stuff, we go through it almost by the barrel at home. I was lucky there was enough to make this! This is, if my memory serves me right, the first peanut butter related recipe I've made before, so I was pretty chuffed with how it turned out. I got the idea to do a peanut butter recipe when I visited my friend in Brighton, I sat there with her very cute 7-year-old brother (who made me the most awesome birthday card) playing top trumps whilst she made some lush peanut butter cupcakes for us. I also remember how there was this one that came out that looked a bit like a mushroom. Not that that's to do with anything.


Ok, so now I'm rambling. I'll get on with the recipe.


Ever So Slightly Naughty Peanut Butter Cake Bars
Bare Necessities

2/3cups/150g Butter
2/3cups/165g Peanut Butter
2cups/425g Sugar (use any sugar you want for this, I didn't have enough caster sugar at the time so I did half caster, half brown. Having said that, if you are using only brown, use slightly less than 2 cups, simply because brown sugar is sweeter.)
4 Eggs
2tsp Vanilla Essence
1cup/100g Plain Flour
2tsp Baking Powder
Chocolate Chips (I didn't have enough of these either, so use as many as you want, within reason. One small pack should do)


1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Cream together the butter, peanut butter and sugar until light(ish) in colour and completely blended.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time and beating thoroughly after each one to minimise curdling and such. Don't worry if it does curdle though, it doesn't really affect the taste or texture once it's cooked.
4. Mix in the vanilla essence.
5. Stir in the flour and baking powder and chocolate chips until fully combined.
6. Grease and line a baking tray.
7. Pour in the mixture, trying not to lick the bowl yet.
8. Pop in the oven.
9. After 15 minutes, turn the temperature down to 150C and leave for another 15 minutes or so, but I'd check after 10 minutes to see how cooked it is. It will all depend on your oven.
10. Once it is cooked, take it out of the oven and turn it out onto a cooling rack, cut up into pieces and enjoy!