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30 Minute Korean Beef + Toasted Sesame Rice
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Are you guys so over my long tongue twister titles?
Gosh, I hope not because I just can’t seem to keep em simple.
I like em long and crazy. Can it just be my thing. Yeah, let’s just make it my thing. I have long titles and I like it.
Oh but wait, before we get to these bars can we just talk about the snow real fast??
I mean real fast.
I just have to say that I SO called it. Sunday I said the next cloudy day we get, it’s gonna snow and what do you know, it snowed yesterday. Yup, real snow. The white stuff. Look and see for your yourself.
I am ready for fall, but snow? No, not at all. I just want to see the pretty leaves, not the white. You know, it’s only September 23rd. What gives?
Oh well, at least I still have a couple of these bars left.
Now, I know this is kind of a lot in one bar, and honestly a lot for a Tuesday post, but I just got so excited about these that I had to share. I made these over the weekend and little by little just kept adding layers… upon layers.
I just wanted to pile them up high. I wanted texture, I wanted sweetness, I wanted a little crunch, a little chew, a little peanut butter and a lot of chocolate.
They are insane.
Easy.
Addicting.
Crazy.
Awesome.
The only reason the peanut butter cups happened was because I am the world’s biggest sucker for the holiday candies. I am the the worst with Christmas, but Halloween comes in a close second. I am honestly not a candy person, but the second they start putting out the pumpkin Reeses and orange M&M’s I am a done for.
I just cannot help myself.
I love holidays and I love their “themed” foods. It just makes me feel like a kid again.
I surprised myself though and did not give in to the Halloween candy until last week. I blame this mostly on the fact the I no longer take Asher to the grocery store with me since she is a big girl all the sudden and has school all day 🙁
While I do love not having to stop every two seconds to tell Asher to stop throwing every last thing into the cart, I have to say I miss my little shopping buddy.
Ok fine, I also miss the excuse to spend a good ten minutes in the Halloween isle. I kind of love that isle the most.
Alright, alright.
Let’s just talk about the bars already. First you have the cookie layer that is stuffed with peanut butter cups, then there is the cream layer, which I stole from my homemade peanut butter Oreos (so good) and then there is the caramel popcorn. Like I said, they are crazy.
But awesome.
And pretty easy too, just bake the cookies (so easy), beat the cream (even easier) and the make the caramel (pretty simple – promise). The hardest part is waiting for them to set. It’s like torture and I will not blame you if you need to dig in right away.
Cause we totally did. And loved every gooey bite.
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Hi Tieghan,
I’m going to make these this weekend but had a quick question – do you pop your own popcorn or do you use a store bought brand? We are huge popcorn lovers here in MA and use our whirlypop a couple of times a week. It requires some grape seed oil in the bottom of the popper and wondering if that will affect this recipe. Thanks!
Donna
Hey Donna,
I like to pop my own popcorn, the grape seed oil will be just fine:) I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
Thanks, Tieghan! By the way, we had no idea your brother Red and Hailey were in the Olympics – it made watching this year that much more fun and we felt invested in them even though we’ve never met them. We were rooting for them both! While they didn’t medal, what a blessing to have the opportunity to go back and compete again – they were both amazing. Thanks for sharing their stories with all of us. And your comment in one of your posts about keeping the focus on the athletes and not all of the politics and everything else going on in this world was spot on. I couldn’t agree with you more. The Olympics should be all about the athletes and the hard work that got them there!
Awe thank you so much!! They really are both so amazing and we are so very proud of them!!
Hey Tieghan,
Quick question – do you bake your popcorn once you put the caramel sauce over it or does yours firm up right away?
Hi Donna,
Nope, you can follow the recipe as is:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
What? 10-12 cups of peanut butter!?
It is 10-12 peanut butter cups. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thank you!
Delicious peanut butter is the essential of peanut butter cup cookies cream salted caramel popcorn. Delicate peanut butter can make the whole cake tastes more delicious. Wanna more information about peanut butter, click here. http://www.peanutbutterm.com/
It definitely can influence it! Thanks so much Serena!!
I made this recipe, and every part of it turned out great except for the salted caramel popcorn, which turned out very soft and soggy after I poured the caramel on it…the corn never crisped up, even after the caramel hardened. I googled this, and it turns out that caramel corn is *always* supposed to bake in the oven, once the caramel and corn are combined, to make it crispy and crunchy. If I make this recipe again, I definitely will include that step. I really think it would be great if you could update your recipe to note that the caramel corn is supposed to be baked before topping the vanilla filling, because otherwise, the popcorn topping is soggy and throws off the entire textural balance of the cookie, and in my opinion, makes the recipe a waste of effort and money.
woah.
Thanks!
Its really a tasty recipe i would love to try it once .. many thanks for sharing your recipe. 🙂
Thanks!
I tried making these last night and have two questions. First off – when you say “1/4 butter” – is this 1/4 cup or 1/4 stick? I tried 1/4 cup butter.
After adding the cream and butter, I heated it for probably less than 5 minutes, and it started to boil (is this ok?). I then took it off the heat, mixed in the peanut butter, and poured it on the popcorn – only to see the popcorn shrivel up into less than 1/4 the volume. Do you have any tips, on what I might have done wrong? I threw out that popcorn, and was going to try it again tonight.
Hey Rachel!
When I say 1/4 cup butter, I do mean a 1/4 cup. Not a 1/4 a stick. As for the caramel, it is ok for it to come to a boil, but don’t boil it for longer than 5-8 minutes. If it goes above 245 degrees the caramel will harden too much. I am not sure why your popcorn shriveled up, but try letting the caramel sauce cool for 5 minutes before pouring it over the popcorn. The heat from the super hot caramel probably caused it to shrivel. But my did not do that and never has, so it is a little weird. OK, I really hope this solves your problems! Let me know if you have any more questions and I hope these turn out and you love them!
Thanks for the fast reply. I will try letting it cool tonight and see if it works better, I’d never had that happen before when making caramel corn either.
– Also, you are missing the word “cup” from the caramel ingredient list above (it says “1/4 butter”) – that is why I asked.
Ok so I totally went and got the ingredients for these last night and was going to make them tonight, and now I can’t find the recipe here, or anywhere- pleeease help! I’m so excited to make these!
Snow?? Noooo!! I Hope it doesn’t end up snowing again for you for quite awhile! You need to be able to enjoy this delicious Fall weather a bit longer! 😉 And these bars? Holy. Bananas. They are INSANE in an awesome way!!!
I could not agree more, but it will snow again. It’s just what happens aound here this time of year.
Thanks so much, Jocelyn!
OMG I totally bought the ingredients for this last night and was going to make them tonight, and now the recipe won’t show up- help me pleeeease! I’m so excited to try them out!
Kara, I am SO incredibly sorry! My site has been completely down for hours and totally crashing. I feel so, so, so bad you never got to make these! The recipe should hopefully be there now (crossing my fingers!). Again, so sorry I feel terrible!! let me know if you have any more problems!
Where I do I start, they look amazing!
Thank you, Laura!
Oh, your recipe made me think of my father’s birthday (in October). I’ll go and train to make it couple of times and than cook it for his special day. I believe I’ll get sophisticated taste that he will remember for long.
Can I decorate the upper layer with some more chocolate (or coconut flakes) or what would you recommend?
Yes to the more chocolate and toasted coconut flakes! That sounds awesome! Hope you guys all love these!
These look crazy awesome delicious bonkers good. Wow, snow! I’m so not ready for snow. You can keep it.
Haha! I do not want it! LOL!
Thanks Jennie!
my all-time favorite food
Thanks! 🙂