Peanut Butter Cup S'mores Bars

My friend Kate had gone on a recipe posting rampage and suggested 3 things for me to make.  I got more and more excited as she continued posting recipes (nerd alert!).  This post, however, got the most attention from my sisters - saying that I had to make it - STAT.  I immediately printed out the recipe and saw my first major flaw - Fluff.  I hate Fluff.  Never been a fan of it - my Mom could eat it like it's going out of style though.  I prefer real marshmallows.  I toyed in my head back and forth if I should make it the way it calls for or switch the Fluff to marshmallows.  I gave in and decided I would - I always make it the way the recipe says the first time and then I will pick it apart and make it better.  I knew I would have an issue with the Fluff from the beginning, but I was going to try it anyways.  In my head I already knew that I would be making this 3 different ways, once with Fluff, once with mini marshmallows and once with homemade marshmallows.  And I'm sure I will post all 3 versions on here for you guys to try.  Sometimes I think I have issues when my mind goes into overdrive like this to pick apart a recipe and see how to make it better. 

My first decision was to use mini peanut butter cups - easier to cut through than the larger ones. Away I went - using Fluff - and this recipe is actually really easy.  It seems like it should be harder than it is, but it's really not. 

delicious

I happily took these around to my taste testers and people just dove right in! One quote from one was "Those things turned my world upside down.  Amazing".  The fluff does ooze out all over once you cut into them - I kept mine in the fridge and that worked fantastically.  Stay tuned for the other versions of this recipe.

Peanut Butter Cup S'mores Bars

16 large/20 small squares

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 bag mini peanut butter cups, unwrapped

1 jar marshmallow fluff

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Coat an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt and graham cracker crumbs.  Set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat butter and both sugars until fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla until combined, scraping down sides as needed.  With mixer on low, stir in dry ingredients mixture. Mix until incorporated.
3. Spread 2/3 dough on to prepared baking sheet.  Lightly press mini peanut butter cups into dough, then spread a good layer of fluff on top of peanut butter cups.  On a piece of parchment paper, press remaining dough into a 8x8 square.  Place dough on top of fluff and press down lightly.
4. Bake for 30 minutes or until edges just begin to brown.  Allow to cool overnight or for at least 8 hours.