Marble-ous Peanut Butter Dessert

This dessert is frozen chocolate peanut butter perfection! My mother-in-law called this past Saturday to invite Joe and I over for dinner on Sunday and I offered to bring a dessert. I had plans during the day on Sunday, so I was going to need to make whatever it was I decided to make on Saturday. I didn't want to have to go to the store, so I perused my cookbooks to find a dessert that I already had all the ingredients for. It didn't take me long to select this one, from the Best of Pillsbury Bake-Off Desserts cookbook. I'd actually been eyeing this recipe for awhile and I had everything on hand, plus it sounded light and refreshing, which would be a good compliment to the gnocchi my mother-in-law was serving for our meal.

This dessert is super simple to put together. I made only a few changes. I used fat free cool whip in place of the whipping cream and since I was feeling lazy and didn't want to bother melting chocolate I swirled in a few tablespoons of hot fudge sauce.

This was a big hit! Everyone loved it. It's the perfect mix of creamy and crunchy, with just the right amount of peanut butter and hints of chocolate. I think I'll make sure to always have the ingredients on hand for this one!

Marble-ous Peanut Butter Dessert

1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/4 c. butter, softened
1 c. flour
1 c. (6 oz. pkg.) chocolate chips

FILLING:
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 c. (1/2 pt.) whipping cream, whipped & sweetened

In small mixer bowl, cream brown sugar, peanut butter and butter until light and fluffy. Add flour; blend until crumbly. Sprinkle into ungreased 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Set aside half of crumb mixture (about 1 cup) for topping. Lightly press remaining crumb mixture over bottom of pan.Prepare filling. Pour over crumb mixture in pan. Melt chocolate chips; drizzle over filling. Gently cut through to marble.

Sprinkle with reserved crumbs; press in slightly. Freeze at least 2 hours or until serving. Remove from freezer 1 minutes before serving.Filling: In small mixture bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, peanut butter and vanilla; beat at medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. By hand, fold in whipping cream.