Lunch Lady Peanut Butter Bars

Recipe courtesy of Six Sisters' Stuff

These are so scrumptious.  The recipe makes a boatload, so if you want to half it you can use a half sheet baking pan instead.  

Cookie base:

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)

2 cups old fashioned oats

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Middle layer:

1 1/2 cups peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)

Frosting:

1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) softened

1/4 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp cocoa powder

2-3 cups of powdered sugar

To make:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, cream the butter and two sugars together until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla, eggs, and 1 cup of peanut butter.  Mix until combined.  Add oats, flour, baking soda and salt.  Mix for 30-60 seconds or until well combined.

Spread base cookie batter onto a greased baking sheet (18x13x1).  Bake for 15 minutes.

Once the base cookie is done, remove it from the oven.  Wait 10 minutes or so and spread the 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter on top as the second layer.  You can do this a bit easier if you drop the peanut butter on by the spoonful over the top of the cookie layer and spread it once the peanut butter is warm.

Let cool.(I put it in the fridge to cool faster)

While cooling, make the frosting by mixing all ingredients in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer.

Spread evenly over the cooled bars.

These cookie bars are delicious warm, room temp and straight out of the fridge.  You can also freeze them for up to a month.  And, since they have oats and peanut butter, you might even be able to consider them energy bars!