Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bars

This past Monday will always stick out in my mind as one of the best days of my life. That day will always remind me of just how amazing life can truly be. The moment will always be one of the best highlights of my life.

What happened? We heard the most amazing sound ever. We heard something that we’ve been waiting to hear for years. We heard our baby’s heartbeat.

While waiting for my doctor to enter the room, my husband and I had our fingers crossed, hoping that we could finally hear our baby. We noticed that the sonogram machine wasn’t in the room so that made us a bit nervous.

When my doctor entered the room, we talked about my pregnancy to date, went over my current symptoms, and covered what I was going to go through over the next month. After looking around the room, she seemed a bit confused, told us that she would be right back, and walked into the room carrying a handheld device.

While pressing the device against my stomach, we began to hear a noise that I will never forget. I looked up at my doctor and asked, “Is that the baby’s heartbeat?” Her answer? “Yes, and those loud noises that you hear are most likely the baby’s kicks.” My heart began to race due to the excitement. We finally heard our baby’s heartbeat … and the heartbeat was good and healthy. Now that’s music to any parent-to-be’s ears.

As I enter into my fourth month of pregnancy, I can’t help but continue to be overly aware of everything that goes into my body. As any mother-to-be, I only want the best for the little Nugget. Eating organic products, making sure to eat enough fruits and vegetables throughout the day, consuming the appropriate amounts of whole grains … the list goes on and on in terms of my daily nutrition. And yes, it’s always at the front of my mind.

Now, I’ve always been all about healthy eating. However, once I saw the positive sign on the pregnancy test, my OCD and anal retentiveness kicked into overdrive and I became even more cautious and aware of the foods that I enjoyed. Yes, I’ll be the first to admit that I can tend to be a little annoying about it. Even I get on my own nerves at times. However, it’s all for a good reason. As I said earlier, I only want the best for baby Nugget.

With all that being said, over the past few weeks I started to notice that the sweet tooth that I never had prior to pregnancy is all of a sudden rearing its ugly head. Chocolate, caramel, ice cream … you name it, it’s definitely on my mind.

Ever since telling people that I was pregnant, people have been asking me if I’ve had any cravings. My answer? I’m not sure. Why? I’m not sure if these sweet treat cravings are directly related to pregnancy cravings or due to the fact that I’m completely depriving myself of all things sweet. As in, is this just a natural human craving?

This treat combines my love of pretzels and peanut butter with my new love of chocolate and I can promise you that myself (and baby Nugget) are completely satisfied. I need to hide the rest of these bars so that I don’t devour them in one sitting.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bars

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup ground pretzels (measure after crushing)
• 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter

• 2 cups milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup crushed pretzels

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper (make sure that the parchment paper goes over the sides for easy lifting later).
2. Whisk together the flour, pretzels, and confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl. Add the melted butter and mix together with your fingers.
3. Press the dough into the prepared baking dish so that there’s a hard layer on the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes. While the crust is baking, make the topping.
4. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Make sure that the peanut butter is warm or at room temperature and add it into the melted chocolate. Stir to combine.
5. Remove the crust from the oven and pour the chocolate peanut butter topping over the warm crust. Spread the topping evenly over the crust. Tap the pan on the counter to release the air bubbles.
6. Sprinkle the rest of the crushed pretzels on top of the chocolate topping. Press the pretzels lightly into the chocolate topping so that the pretzels stick to the chocolate.
7. Place the pan in the freezer for 1 hour. Lift the parchment paper out of the pan and place onto a cutting board. Slice the into squares.
8. Serve frozen, chilled, or at room temperature.

Do you like salty treats or sweet treats?

*Recipe adapted from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice