Chubby Hubby Bars

I swear I took a picture of these Chubby Hubby Bars from Food is My Friend. My camera must have thought it looked so tasty that it ate the picture.

Originally, I made them for a Sunday dinner gathering at my best friend's house. We wound up not going as Blockette had a very Flu like reaction to her Flu shot the night before.

These bars were quite similar to chocolate chip pretzel bars I made this summer. The major difference being these didn't have a pretzel crust, the pretzels were mixed in the bar. I liked this version better. The bars themselves held up better, and the pretzels retained more of their crunch.  Although, this may be due to the fact that when I made the chocolate chip pretzel bars it was rather humid.

Blockette did not like these bars at all. She loved the version I made this summer. I think her taste buds were still messed up from her reaction to her flu shot. Case in point, we had given her Cinnamon M and M's around the same time and she thought they were disgusting.  Then she tried one again a few days later and thought they were fantastic.  Of course, by that time I had sent all the rest of the bars to work with Mrblocko (and eaten more than my fair share), so they were all gone.  I'd be willing to bet if I made these again she'd think they were peachy keen.

CHUBBY HUBBY BARS from Food is My Friend
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips, divided
2 cups coarsely chopped pretzels, divided
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
1/4 cup peanut butter or butterscotch chips

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 baking dish with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray. In a bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, and salt. Using a mixer, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy; add eggs and vanilla. Beat in dry ingredients just until incorporated. Fold in 1 1/4 cup chocolate chips, 1 1/2 cups pretzels, and peanuts (if using). Spread batter in baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup pretzels, 1/4 cup chocolate chips, and peanut butter (or butterscotch) chips. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in baking dish for 10 minutes, then remove bars by lifting the foil and place on a wire rack to finish cooling. Cut into bars.

One final note: This batter is really really thick.  I don't know if I could have properly combined all the add ins without a stand mixer. I almost snapped my spatula scraping the dough out of the bowl!