Chocolate Peanut Butter Bran Buddy Bars—Prototype 7:

This was sort of a new one, featuring three distinct layers and a new ingredient: white chocolate. Due to this prototype being made after Prototype 2 of the Chocolate (only) Bran Buddy Bars, whipped cottage cheese (lowfat, of course) replaced the cream cheese as well.

Sequential details (combining order) for lower filling:
6 oz. melted, semi-sweet chocolate
2 oz. whipped lowfat cottage cheese
1/8 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla (last ingredient here!)

Sequential details (combining order) for crust:
14 oz. whipped lowfat cottage cheese
2 oz. unsalted peanut butter
1 tbsp. skim milk
(blend the three wet ingredients above before adding the two dry ones below)
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar
8.8 oz. Bran Buds, ground up

Sequential details (combining order) for upper filling:
6 oz. melted, white chocolate
2 oz. unsalted peanut butter
1/8 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla (last ingredient here!)

Tip: 1/8 cup of sugar weighs 1 ounce, so if a measuring cup of this size is not available, try using a kitchen scale instead.

Note a 2 ounce swap—2 ounces of the peanut butter being switched from the crust to the upper filling (mainly to give this filling more of a peanut butter color), and 2 ounces of cottage cheese (the upper filling's entire Prototype 6 share in its corresponding cream cheese form) being switched from the upper filling to the crust.

Also note that the white chocolate replaces the semi-sweet on the top layer.

The pan procedures were similar to those of Prototype 6 (20-minute freezer exposures, etc.), and the full recipe was actually used here—not half—along with, however, a 9" x 9" pan (see the comments above on Prototype 1 of the Chocolate Bran Buddy Bars for further info on this issue). The cutting was done after probably about an hour and a half of refrigeration (i.e., that occurred right after the top layer's placement). There were still some disintegration problems, mainly with the semi-sweet chocolate filling layer. However, the resulting cut bars were each transferred to an individual-sized piece of wax paper, re-assembled with the the broken filling sections, then heat-treated (semi-sweet side up, under the broiler), and this approach ended up working out quite well. The bars were then transferred back to the refrigerator for re-hardening. "Integrated" success was hopefully attained at last!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bran Buddy Bars—Prototype 7

I made these bars in honor of Lesa's birthday.
 

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