Raspberry Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

Raspberry Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Safeway had local raspberries reduced for quick sale today and I couldn’t pass them up. Then I got home and realized that I had a whole flat of raspberries that were all ripe- just touching them turned them to juice. We’ve been on a bit of a protein kick lately, so I decided to try to do something with peanut butter (because obviously the protein in peanut butter completely counteracts all the carbs in the raspberries, sugar, and chocolate…).

I couldn’t find quite the recipe I wanted, so Ashley and I started with the ‘Raspberry-Chocolate Chip Blondie Bars’ recipe from ‘Vegan With A Vengeance‘. It doesn’t call for peanut butter, but a little serendipity helped out: we ran out of soy yogurt, so we subbed in peanut butter. The recipe calls for holding out some of the blondie batter and putting it on top of the raspberry topping, kind of like a cobbler. I’m more a fan of crisps and crumbles with the oatmeal streusel style topping, so I adapted a recipe from ‘Sweat and Natural‘ to go on top. Here’s the recipe:

Raspberry Layer
2 1/2 cups fresh raspberries
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
1/3 cup sugar

Blondie Layer
3 3/4 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons canola oil
2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Crumble Topping
1/2 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
3 Tablespoons canola oil
3 Tablespoons maple syrup

You’ll also need 1/2 to 1 cup chocolate chips (depending on how much you NEED chocolate).

Preheat your oven to 350º, and lightly grease a 13×9 pan.

For the raspberry layer: combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a low boil. Reduce heat and simmer for ~5 minutes, or until thickened.

For the blondie: combine wet and dry ingredients separately, then mix together. The dough should be stiff, a bit like peanut butter cookie dough.

For the crumble: combine dry ingredients, then add wet ingredients. Use your hands to help the mixture crumble.

To assemble, press the blondie dough out into an even layer in the pan. Spread the raspberry filling on top of the dough, then sprinkle with 1/2 the chocolate chips. Use your hands to crumble the… uh… crumble on top of the raspberry layer. Sprinkle the rest of the chocolate chips on, and bake for 40-45 minutes. Let it cool for ~20 minutes before you cut into it. Enjoy!