Buckeye Bars

O-H! If you live in Columbus, I hope you gave an I-O reply! As an Ohio native, I attended my first Ohio State football game at an early age. Both of my parents are OSU alums, and even though I will not be attending the large university next year, I will always have a place in my heart for the OSU buckeyes.

Ohio State athletics and the famous horseshoe stadium play a large role in the  Columbus community. In addition to being a buckeye fan, you know you are from Columbus if:

1. The four seasons are: winter, still winter, almost winter, and construction.
2. You measure distance in minutes.
3. You design your Halloween costume to fit over a winter coat.
4. Classes are canceled because of snow.
5. You know how to pronounce Scioto and Olentangy.
6. It is not unusual to see for a street called East North Broadway.
7. You like your pizza cut in squares.
8. You live in the suburbs, but can be in a cornfield within a few minutes.
9. You own a Buckeye necklace (see photo below!).
10. When driving, you slow down on 670 to smell the Wonderbread factory.

Columbus natives also enjoy chocolate peanut butter buckeye desserts. If you are a fan of the chocolate peanut butter combo, you will love these Buckeye Bars!

Buckeye Bars
printable recipe

CRUST:

1 ½ cups butter (melted)

3 ½ cups flour

2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar

2/3 cup finely chopped peanuts

¼ tsp. salt

PEANUT BUTTER FILLING:

4 ounces cream cheese

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter

6 tbsp. sugar

1 egg

¼ cup milk

BROWNIE:

1 cup flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

½ cup butter (softened)

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate (melted)

½ cup peanut butter chips

GARNISH:

¾ cup peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt unsweetened chocolate in double boiler over medium heat until completely melted (5-10 minutes). Remove from heat and allow to cool 5-10 minutes.

Combine all of the crust ingredients. Press crust into 12 x 18 inch jelly roll pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes.

Combine peanut butter and cream cheese and beat until combined. Beat in sugar, egg, and milk.

To prepare brownies, cream butter and melted chocolate in medium bowl. Add sugar and cream until well combined. Add eggs and vanilla extract.

Add baking powder, salt, and flour and stir until just combined. Stir in peanut butter chips.

Spread most of the brownie batter over cooled crust. Drop peanut butter filling by the spoonful on top of brownie batter. Drop remaining brownie batter on top. Run a knife through the batter to create a swirl design.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Immediately sprinkle remaining peanut butter chips on brownies when out of oven.

Allow to cool and cut into squares.

Yields 54 2-inch brownies.

Recipe from the Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

Go Bucks and Enjoy!

Nutella Buckeyes

As a resident of the buckeye state, traditional chocolate peanut butter buckeyes are a favorite in my household. However, when I heard about using Nutella in addition to peanut butter for the buckeye filling, I was intrigued! Despite my family's initial skepticism because I was altering the the traditional family recipe (which uses only peanut butter, powdered sugar, and butter for the filling) these Nutella buckeyes were even better than the traditional buckeye. Is that even possible? By following a few simple steps, you can create Nutella buckeyes that taste delicious and look beautifully smooth.

NUTELLA BUCKEYE FILLING

printable recipe

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

12 oz. Nutella

3/4 cup Peanut Butter

16 tbsp. Unsalted Butter (room temperature)

1/2 tsp. Vanilla

1 tsp. Salt

Combine Nutella, peanut butter, and butter and mix until combined.

Add vanilla and salt.

Gradually add powdered sugar.

Roll mixture into 1 inch balls. 

Place on cookie sheet lined with wax paper and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

NUTELLA BUCKEYE CHOCOLATE COATING

16 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 block baking paraffin wax (makes chocolate appear shiny)

Melt paraffin and chocolate, stirring frequently, over low/medium heat in small saucepan until smooth. 

Remove peanut butter balls from refrigerator and place one on a toothpick. Dip in chocolate over low heat. Leave a small part of the top of the buckeye un-dipped. Tap the toothpick on the edge of the pan to remove excess chocolate. 

Remove toothpick and place back on cookie sheet lined with wax paper.

Refrigerate until coating hardens and until time to serve.

Enjoy!

Buckeye Brownie Towers

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday and I decided to bake her an early present. She loves anything with chocolate and peanut butter, so these two ingredients were a must! I wanted to create something that was bite sized, not a cupcake, and elegant. Other than that, I had no ideas. I explored a few baking blogs and came across Baking with Basil's Brownie Buckeye Bites. Inspired by this recipe, here is my own take on the dessert!












BROWNIES
2/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup  unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
10 tbsp. butter (melted)
3 large eggs

PEANUT BUTTER FILLING
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs

GARNISH
Chopped Peanuts
Baking Chocolate for melting to create spiral topper and to dip the pretzels
Circle Pretzels

Preheat oven to 325 F degrees.

Combine the melted butter and cocoa powder. Melt the semisweet chocolate chips and add to the butter and cocoa powder. Add the oil, sugar, and eggs.

Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix by hand until just combined. Pour batter in parchment paper lined jelly roll pan. It is critical to line the pan with parchment!

Bake for 20 minutes.

Allow to cool and then place in refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes. Use a small circular cookie cutter to cut out the tops and bottoms for the towers. I found it helpful to dip the cookie cutter in a bowl of ice water each time to prevent it from sticking to the brownie. My cookie cutter was about 1.25" in diameter, and this yielded enough tops and bottoms for 20 brownie towers.

Combine the melter butter and powdered sugar for the peanut butter filling. Use a food chopper to achieve fine graham cracker crumbs. Add graham cracker crumbs and peanut butter to mix. Press into wax paper lined 8x8 inch pan. Put in freezer and allow to chill for 15 minutes. Use the same cookie cutter used for brownies to cut circles of peanut butter filling. You can crumble up the extra scraps and sprinkle on the top of the brownie towers as I did for the brownie towers I made and photographed.

 Take one peanut butter circle and roll the edge in melted baking chocolate before rolling in chopped peanuts. Stack the completed peanut butter circle between two brownie circles. Take pretzel circles and dip in baking chocolate (you can also use white baking chocolate).Place the pretzel on the top of the brownie tower.

Melt additional baking chocolate and place in plastic bag with corner cut off. Squeeze onto wax paper in spiral design. Chill spirals for 20 minutes before peeling off wax paper and placing on top of completed towers.

Enjoy!