Peanut Butter & Caramel Cookie Bars

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line an 8 x 8 baking pan with parchment paper with the ends of the paper hanging over the ends of the dish. (That is important or you won’t be able to get these bars out very easily!)

Prepare the sugar cookie mix according to package directions. You should have about 1 cup of sugar cookie dough.

Press the sugar cookie dough into the baking pan, making sure you cover the bottom of the pan. Bake for about 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Turn off the oven.

Meanwhile combine the brown sugar and butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Mix until the butter is melted and incorporated with the sugar. Pour in the sweetened condensed milk and stir constantly for about 20 minutes on low heat. The mix should resemble melted caramels.

Remove pan from heat. Pour the caramel mixture over the sugar cookie layer and let it cool and set up for about 2 hours. (You can speed this process up by placing it in the fridge.)

In two different microwave safe bowls, separate the chocolate chips from the peanut butter chips (the Nestle bag will have some of each). Into each bowl add half of the coconut oil. Then melt the baking chips in the microwave. As a general rule of thumb, I melt for 30 seconds, stir for 30 seconds, and then put them back in the microwave to heat for about 15 seconds and then stir until the chips are completely melted.

Pour the chocolate chip layer on first, then pour the peanut butter chip layer on. Using a butter knife swirl the layers on top and then put aside to set up.

Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Note: Instead of using the package mix of dough, you can sub any sugar cookie recipe. You’ll need 1 cup of prepared dough.