Snacking State-by-State: Mashup 9B - Pepsi Buckeye Bars with U-Bet Whipped Cream

Just to reiterate from the previous mashup post: 


"The last four states' worth of recipes have left me with an inordinate amount of ingredients that I really have no idea how to mix together: garam masala and peanut butter, heavy whipping cream and ground pork, Pepsi and U-bet chocolate syrup, pimento cheese and matzah meal, kidney beans and sauerkraut. These were not going to fit together into one recipe - but they fit well into two: an entrée and a dessert."


The previous post was the entrée.  Now comes the dessert.  The extremely sweet dessert.

Mashup recipe #2: Pepsi Buckeye Bars with U-bet Whipped Cream

Makes 9 large, 16 small or 25 bite-sized servings

Ingredients (state flag indicates State-by-State post where ingredient was featured. Ingredients with no flag were not specifically used for any one post.)

For the bars you will need:

6 oz Pepsi (the Mexican kind that is made out of sugar, not corn syrup.  Can't find it?  Use the "retro" Pepsi that's in stores now, or just use regular Pepsi if you have to)

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 T paraffin wax (optional, but it really gives the chocolate a nice shine)

1/4 c confectioner's sugar, plus enough extra to firm up mixture to desired consistency

4 oz sweet Baker's chocolate

1/3 stick butter (not pictured - whoops!) 

For the whipped topping, all you will need are:

1 c (1/2 pt) heavy whipping cream

1 - 2 T (a good squirt) U-bet chocolate syrup

First, boil down the Pepsi until it is about half the amount.  Set aside.

Cut off about a tablespoon's worth of paraffin wax - about half of the right side of this bar.

Throw the wax, the chocolate and half of the Pepsi reduction into a double boiler (I ended up taking out one square of the wax) and stir until melted.

Add the rest of the Pepsi reduction to a bowl with the butter (softened), peanut butter and confectioner's sugar, and stir until well blended.  Note: I forgot to add the butter to this bowl but added it later.

Make sure the butter is softened so it doesn't end up like this (oopsie, lazy me)

Press the peanut butter mixture into a small shallow dish (like this one)

Pour the chocolate mixture over top of it, spreading it around until it covers the peanut butter.

Put in the fridge, or in the freezer if you're impatient.

Next, whip the cream.

Just as it gets to the right consistency, add a generous squirt of the U-bet.

When hardened, cut the chocolate and peanut butter into squares.

Top with the whipped cream.

Note how shiny it is!  That's the power of paraffin.

The bars are rich, though mine never quite hardened the way those buckeye candies did a few weeks back. It could be that I didn't add enough confectioner's sugar or butter, or didn't mix it in well enough.  But it isn't a big problem - it still retains its shape.  The chocolate topping has a lovely shine and really has a noticeable Pepsi flavor.  The whipped cream has a subtle hint of U-bet, so I might have added a little bit more.  In all, however, the dessert works nicely.

These mashups are done, and make for a nice meal, perhaps with a chocolate egg cream or a tall bottle of Pepsi with peanuts inside.  Or if you don't want diabetes, maybe omit that last part.