Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Pretzel Dessert Bars

Here’s a different version of the beloved Strawberry Pretzel Salad. Crunchy crust, chocolate and a fluffy peanut butter filling. Oh, yeah!

Ingredients:

For the crust:

3 ½ cups crushed pretzels
½ cup butter, melted
2 Tablespoons white sugar

For the chocolate layer:
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons canola oil

For the filling:

1 ½ cups creamy peanut butter
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese at room temperature
5 Tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
1 (8 ounce) container whipped topping, thawed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and spray a 13 by 9 baking dish with cooking spray. Mix the pretzels, melted butter and sugar together and press into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 11 minutes and remove to trivets to cool. There, you are done with the oven!

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips and canola oil for 2 minutes on 50% power. Stir. If your chocolate isn’t completely melted, pop it back in the microwave for 30 seconds more. You want it just melted, not burnt.

Reserve about a ¼ cup of the chocolate mixture and spread the rest over the pretzel crust. Place the baking dish in the fridge for 45 minutes to 1 hour to firm up.

In a mixing bowl, mix beat the peanut butter, cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar together. Stir in the whipped topping, a bit at a time. Remove the baking dish from the fridge and add the filling by placing spoonfuls all over. Smooth out the top. Garnish by drizzling the top with your remaining chocolate mixture (reheating slightly if needed to get it melted again). Refrigerate for at least two hours to firm up. Cut into small squares if you are only being slightly decadent, big squares if you are really feeling decadent.