May 22: Maple Nut Triangles

Maple Nut Triangles

Ingredients:
Base and Topping
4 tablespoons (2 oz) unsalted butter
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup lightly salted peanuts

Filling
4 tablespoons (2 oz) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons evaporated milk
2 tablespoons cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix
1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring

1. Line a 9-inch square pan with nonstick foil, or line it with regular foil and spray the foil with flour-added baking spray.
2. Make the base and topping: In a large, microwave-safe mixing bowl, microwave the butter on high for 30 seconds, or until melted. Add the chocolate chips and butterscotch chips and toss to coat with the butter. Microwave the chips and butter at 50% power stirring every 30 seconds until melted. Stir in the peanut butter. Spoon half of the mixture into the bottom of the pan and spread all the way to the edges. Chill for about a hour, or until set and very firm. Add the peanuts to the remaining mixture and set aside.
3. Make the filling: In a small, nonstick saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, but do not bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the evaporated milk and pudding mix. With a wooden spoon or heat-resistant scraper, stir over medium-low heat for about 1 minute, being careful not to let it boil. It should look like thick vanilla pudding. Remove from the heat and gradually stir in about half of the confectioners' sugar and the maple flavoring. Stir in the remaining confectioners' sugar. The consistency should be that of thick frosting or soft fudge. Let cool for about 10 minutes. Remove the firm chocolate layer from the refrigerator and spoon the filling over the chocolate, spreading evenly. Chill for 1 hour or until very firm.
4. The remaining chocolate mixture will be a little stiff. Microwave at 50% power for about 30 seconds; stir well and spoon over the pudding mixture. Return the pan to the refrigerator and chill for about 2 hours, or until fully set. Lift from the pan, set on a cutting board and, with a chef's knife, cut into 16 squares. Cut those squares on the diagonal to make 32 triangles.

Base and topping ingredients

Adding the chips to the butter

Addition of the peanut butter

Base

Addition of the peanuts

Set aside

Filling ingredients

Addition of the evaporated milk and pudding mix

Addition of the maple flavoring

Addition of the confectioners' sugar

Filling

Topping

Thoughts: The stores that I went to only had imitation maple flavoring. I hate using imitation anything but it's what they had so...ugh. Once again if I had to do this again, I would make more of the filling. I had a hard time covering the base. It's kind of weird because this is a advertised maple thing but the taste was overwhelmingly chocolate peanut butter.