What’s better than the smell of peanut butter whafting through the house?  Having Ryan, my aspiring baker by my side to help!  Truly, kids simply love to help in the kitchen.  It is so good for them and this recipe is a snap!  It goes together in about 10 minutes and baking time is only about 20 minutes.  The beauty of a bar cookie is that there is no chilling of the dough involved…instant gratification, yeah, that’s what I’m talkin’ about….

You MUST try these, good luck waiting until they’ve completely cooled!   Enjoy!!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon water
1 egg
1 ¼ cups unbleached flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup semi sweet or milk chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 350’. Coat a 9x13x2 inch pan with cooking spray, set aside.
2) In a small mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt, set aside.
3) In a medium mixing bowl, beat brown and white sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla. Beat in water and egg. Add flour mixture all at once and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread evenly into prepared pan.
4) Bake until light brown, 20-23 minutes. Cool and cut into bars.