Salted Nut- Roll Bars

You can't beat the mixture of salty and sweet together as well as crunch and chewy. These are just all around tasty.

Salted Nut-Roll Bars

For base:
1 lb. peanut butter sandwich cookies, coarsely crumbled (such as Nutter Butter)
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

For the topping:
2 c. peanut butter chips
2/3 c. light corn syrup
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. miniature marshmallows
2 c. dry-roasted peanuts
2 c. crisp rice cereal (such as Rice Krispies)

Preheat oven to 350; coat a 13x9x2 inch baking pan with nonstick spray.

Pulverize cookies in a food processor until fine crumbs form. Add melted butter; process until crumbs clump together. Press crumbs into prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Melt peanut butter chips, corn syrup, butter, and vanilla in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring until smooth, about 5 minutes. Spread 1/2 cup of the peanut mixture over crumb base.

Top with marshmallows and return bars to the oven. Bake until marshmallows puff, about 2 minutes, then remove from oven. Don't let marshmallows brown or they will turn crunchy.

Toss peanuts and cereal with remaining peanut mixture to coat. Drop spoonfuls of the topping over the marshmallows, then spread with a spatula (sprayed with non-stick spray to avoid sticking). Cool bars before cutting with a knife coated with nonstick spray.

Makes 28 bars
Total time: about 45 minutes + cooling

Per bar: 310 calories, 18 g fat, 13 mg cholesterol; 32 g carb, 206 mg sodium, 5g fiber, 7 g protein

Recipe source: Cuisine at home magazine