Chubby Hubby Bars w/ M&M Pretzels

Ron and I are trying to cut back on sweets.  Naturally, I made a dessert.

I've been slacking off in the kitchen lately.  Every time I go to cook, I just don't want to.  I know why.  I want summer food.  Summer food = stuff cooked on the grill.  We really need to get out of this hellhole and into our new house so we can start grilling.

But, I've also been struggling trying to come up with ideas.  Despite the cabinet full of cookbooks and cooking magazines.  And despite the 3,000+ recipes I have bookmarked online.  I can't seem to find anything that I want to actually eat.  Nothing appeals to me.  Turning to Ron is not helpful.  I get nothing when I ask.  So, desperately, I asked if he had been craving any type of dessert.  He said no; he's been trying to cut back.

30 seconds later, after careful thought, Ron then said, "But, I did just buy that large bag of M&M Pretzels for baking purposes."  I had to giggle to myself.  What a way to create an excuse to eat some sweets!

I saw the M&M pretzels in an ad and was dying to try them.  M&Ms... and pretzels????  Oh my!  All we need is peanut butter and my life would be complete.  And, after biting into one of these bars, my life is complete.

I changed up the recipe from Cake Batter and Bowl to try and accommodate this candy.  I'm not quite sure if it worked (I used an 8x8, instead of a 9x13) because there was a bit of underbaking that occurred.  But, I can likely blame this on my oven because it went up & down for a good 30 minutes.  I'm pretty sure this is my last baking project in this place.  I simply can't deal with this oven anymore.  In any event, these were really, really, very, very good (even if it was all gooey in some places)!

Chubby Hubby Bars w/ M and M Pretzels
from Cake Batter and Bowl
Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mini pretzels, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup M&M pretzel candy, coarsely chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Mix butter, sugar, eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla extract together in a large bowl. 
2. Mix in flour, baking powder, and salt. Spread half the dough in a greased 13×9-inch pan. Sprinkle pretzels and M&M Pretzels evenly on top; drop remaining dough in chunks on top and spread evenly, until all the pretzels and candy pieces are covered. 
3. Bake at 350˚F for 23 to 28 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. 
4. Cut into 32 bars after the pan reaches room temperature.