This recipe is sort of unusual, but absolutely delicious — especially if you’re into that sweet-salty thing! You can make these bars into any shape you’d like&mdashI’m making stars for Oscar Night since for me it’s all about seeing the “stars!” A sprinkling of gold takes the presentation up a notch. Any shape, any night, these delicious bars are a stellar treat!
Ingredients:
- 3 cups salted potato chips
- 3 cups pretzels
- 1 1/2 cups small marshmallows
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Gold Pearl Dust (optional)
Preparation:
Makes 8 (3-inch) stars, or 16 small squares
Total Prep and Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
Add the potato chips and pretzels to a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Blend until you’ve got a fairly fine powder. Set aside.
In a medium-sized saucepan, melt the marshmallows with the butter and peanut butter. Once melted and smooth, add the chip-pretzel mixture and stir to blend completely. Use a flat-bottomed spatula to gently press this into an approximately 8-inch square baking dish.
Add the chocolate chips in an even layer on top and place in the preheated oven for about 3 minutes. Then use a small, flat-bottomed spatula to spread the melted chips into a smooth, even layer.
Let cool and harden completely at room temperature. If you’re pressed for time (as I always am), it’s ok to speed things up in the refrigerator.
You can now use your star cutter or a knife to shape or cut the bars. (Please note that if you’ve used the refrigerator, the bars will be slightly harder to cut.)
Use a tiny paint brush to “paint” on the gold dust. Just dip your dry brush into the “dust,” and brush it on the chocolate. And there you have it!
An additional note:
Pearl dust is used as a decoration to add lustrous highlights, and a glittering finish to fondant, flowers, chocolate, and more. You can find pearl dust at Sur La Table and various places online.
