Peanut Butter Mississippi Mud Bars

Remember when Mrs. Fields stores started popping up in malls in the early 80's? I was intrigued by her success, and in love with her cookies. Limiting myself to a cookie a day was difficult, since I was a pregnant and worked a block from the Crossroads Mall in Salt Lake at the time. Waddling into the mall and smelling those cookies... Can you say TORTURE? Foods I craved while pregnant: Mrs. Field's chocolate chip cookies, Mrs. F. oatmeal cookies (Debra Specials), Haagen Daz Peach ice cream, Litzas pizza, a Hires Big H (onion rings and fry sauce with a cherry limeade too), brownies, Bratten's clam chowder, Mrs. Backers raspberry cream cheese tarts,dill pickles, cold dill pickle juice. No wonder I gained 60 pounds. I know you love it when I ramble about things totally irrelevant to the recipe. Back to Mrs. Fields. I pulled out a Debbie Fields cookbook "Great American Desserts" last week. I've tried a few of her recipes, and loved most that I have tried. This one was new to me...I love Mississippi Mud Cake so I thought I would give this a whirl. This recipe put a new twist on an old favorite with the addition of peanut butter. These yummy bars may be added to my list of most craved treats. And I'm not even preggo.

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped divided into two 4 oz. portions

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped divided into two 4 oz. portions

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans, toasted and divided into two 1/2-cup portions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8 x 8 pan with aluminum foil and butter the foil. Put the butter and sugar in a large bowl and blend until smooth using the electric mixer on medium speed. Beat in the peanut butter until smooth. Stir the egg and vanilla together in a bowl and add to the peanut butter mixture until combined. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture and combine well. Stir in 1 portion each of the white and semisweet chocolates and combine. Add 1 portion of the pecans and mix until combined. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the center is soft but no longer runny. Remove the pan from the oven and immediately sprinkle the remaining white and semisweet chocolates over the top. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and set aside to let the chocolates melt. When melted, swirl the chocolates together with the tip of a sharp knife to make a marbleized effect. Sprinkle the remaining pecans over the top. Let the bars cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.

Tips:

-I used more like 12 oz of each type of chocolate (8 in the brownies, 4 in the topping). And I just used chocolate chips.

-The marbleized thing really didn't work for me. Hence the plain chocolate looking topping.

-Don't skip roasting the nuts step. It really does make a difference.