PB with some OC

This bar cookie has been swimming around inside my head for about a month or so.
Last week, I was watching "Ellen" with Maggie, when it all started to make more sense and I knew I had to try baking it.
I don't know if it was Ellen or Maggie that magically made it all come together, but we'll just thank both of them, shall we?

This was kind of a case of trial and error, like "Should I throw this in? Sure! How much of this? Maybe...not so much!" You know? I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, so I tried making it twice and the second time turned out much better in my opinion.
Since I had two trial runs, and didn't want to make huge batches of either since I wasn't sure how these would turn out, the measurements are going to be kind of weird for some of the ingredients. Half of a cake mix? Half a can of sweetened condensed milk? I actually weighed the cake mix to get only half of it, and half of sweetened condensed milk I just eyeballed. You're more than welcome to make a batch the size that I did, in a 9x9 pan, or you can do a 9x13 pan. Just know that you'll need to double everything if you do that. If you DO make a 9x13 batch, you'll probably need two bags of Oreos. Just to be safe. You don't ever want to be short on Oreos...

And now, my brain child:

PB with some OC (peanut butter with some oreos and chocolate... I have a really hard time coming up with names for the recipes I create...)

 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 bag Oreos
1/2 of a chocolate cake mix
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup peanut butter
additional chocolate chips for sprinkling

1. Melt one stick of butter, entirely, in the microwave. While it's melting, chop up the other one into 1/2 inch chunks. Add them into the bowl with the melted butter, toss to coat the unmelted chunks with the melted butter. Let sit for about 5 minutes. After the chunks have softened, stir it all together.
2. Meanwhile, line a 9x9 pan with foil and spray. Cover the bottom with whole Oreos. It took about 21 for my pan, and it won't perfectly cover the entire thing.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the cake mix with the flour. Pour in the butter. Add the peanut butter chips and the 1/2 cup chocolate chips. You will probably end up mixing those in by hand, since the cookie dough will be a little thick.
4. Press the cookie dough into the pan, over the Oreos. Make sure it's even and goes down into the empty spaces between the Oreos. Poke holes into the cookie dough, if desired.
5. Whisk together half a can of sweetened condensed milk and 1/4 cup peanut butter, spread over the cookie dough. If you did poke holes, then the milk mixture should go down into those.
6. Sprinkle the top with as many crushed Oreos as you'd like, and some chocolate chips. Use as much or as little as you like. Press them lightly into the milk mixture.
7. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or so. The edges should be browned, and the center just set. Let cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edges. Let it cool completely. Remove from pan with foil and cut into bars.

See, the Oreos won't go in perfect lines? But that's okay, cuz you'll be shoving cookie dough in between them!

Mmmm. I had some of those chocolate chunks, so I used those instead of chips. Really good.

If you want to poke holes into the dough, you can, but you don't have to. I just thought it would be tasty to have some of the milk mixture baked into the dough. And it was.

Before baking. Just be sure and press the chips and Oreos into the mixture slightly, so that they don't all fall off after baking.

And it's done! See the browned edges? 

All of the pictures I took of these afterwards were AWFUL. This is the best I could get. You can see the on the one on the left, one of the sections where the milk mixture baked down into the dough. 

These are crumbly and gooey all at the same time. It's really delicious. 

You could even try this with different cake mixes and chips if you wanted, leave the peanut butter out, and just pour sweetened condensed milk on top. Lots of flavor combination possibilities!

Recipe source: mi cabeza

Buttermilk Lime Shortbread Bars

Isn't it lovely when you find a treat that's perfect for summertime, but the fruit used in it is in season in the wintertime? Anyways, these bars are delicious!! I ran across them a couple of weeks ago and it was fate because I had some leftover buttermilk sitting in the fridge that I wasn't quite sure what to do with. I could've made Mike some buttermilk biscuits, but I did that last time I had leftover buttermilk, and I don't want to set a precedence. We don't need him getting spoiled.
This recipe is really easy to follow. I didn't have any limes on hand (and they're not in season at the moment...) so I used some lime juice for both the juice and the zest part. It worked out great! These are going to taste very similar to lemon bars, but more tart. I mean REALLY tart. I like the taste of tart things, but you will definitely want to eat these in small amounts. Also, I found that right after they cooled, they weren't as good as when I let them sit overnight. I definitely recommend waiting a day to eat these, ooooooo or even refrigerating them and eating them cold!! Why didn't I do that before??

Buttermilk Lime Shortbread Bars
Crust:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) butter, cold, cut into 8 pieces

Filling:
4 large eggs
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup lime juice, freshly squeezed
1 tablespoon lime zest
1 teapoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
For the crust, in a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Sprinkle the butter pieces over the top of the dry mixture and using a pastry blender, two knives or your fingers, cut the butter into the dry mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Pour the mixture into the bottom of a 9X9-inch pan and press the crust firmly to form an even layer. Bake the crust for 16-17 minutes, until lightly browned around the edges.
While the crust is baking, prepare the filling by whisking together all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl until evenly combined. Pour the filling mixture over the hot crust when it comes out of the oven and return it to the oven to bake for 18-20 more minutes, until the filling is set (it will not jiggle if the pan is shaken slightly).
Cool the bars in the pan completely before dusting with powdered sugar, slicing and serving. These bars also taste excellent after they have been chilled.

Here's the crust which, like so many other things when you cut in butter, looks like pie dough!

The filling is really going to look like scrambled eggs after you get everything mixed together. (you know, 'making an effort' scrambled eggs, not like my scrambled eggs which is just throwing an egg in a frying pan the way it is and adding some salt...)

This is what it looks like when it comes out of the oven!!! Mine cracked a little, there on the left, so I think I might've left it in a minute or two too long. It settled pretty well while it cooled though. Also I'm a genius and didn't take a picture of some cut bars. Just go check out Mel's page. She takes prettier pictures than I do anyways :)

Recipe source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe