If Chocolate Chip Bars aren't enough for you today, here's something a little more over the top. Rocky Mountain Bars are from a cookbook I got for Valentine's Day called "Creme de Colorado" by the Junior League of Colorado.
Different From Mississippi Mud Bars
At first glance, the recipe reminded me of Mississippi Mud Bars, but then I saw there were several differences including the addition of cream cheese. End result is a layer of nutty brownies topped with a rich chocolate chip and nut cheesecake topped with puffed marshmallows and a final layer of sweet chocolate cream cheese icing. If that's not enough for you than I don't know what is.
From the start, I knew these would be a gooey mess if I didn't allow them a good chill time, so I started these yesterday morning and let them chill all day before cutting in squares. I sent them to work with Todd and hope they go over well.
Rocky Mountain Bars aka Rocky Road Fudge Bars
Update: A few people pointed out that this recipe was an old Bake-Off entry from 1972 called Rocky Road Fudge Bars. It has great reviews on Pillsbury, and I am happy to say the ones I sent to work with my husband got great reviews as well!
Recipe
Rocky Mountain Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- ½ cup butter salted
- 1 oz unsweetened chocolate
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ cup chopped nuts toasted pecans
Filling:
- 6 oz cream cheese softened
- 4 tablespoons softened butter salted
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 2 tablespoons flour
- ¼ cup chopped nuts (toasted pecans
- 6 oz chocolate chips dark
- 2 cups mini marshmallows
Frosting:
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 oz unsweetened chocolate
- 2 oz cream cheese softened
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13x9 inch metal pan with foil and spray with cooking spray or Baker's Joy.
- Melt butter and chocolate together in the microwave and set aside to cool slightly. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add melted chocolate mixture to eggs and beat well. Mix together flour and baking powder and stir (do not overbeat) into the batter along with the nuts. Spread in prepared pan and set aside.
- In another bowl, beat together cream cheese, butter, and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla and flour and stir just until mixed. Stir in nuts and spread batter in the pan covering the chocolate mixture. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with marshmallows. Return to oven for 2 minutes to puff marshmallows.
- Frosting: Melt the butter and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and let cool. In a mixing bowl, beat melted chocolate mixture, cream cheese, milk, vanilla and powdered sugar until smooth. Spread over marshmallow layer. When I did this, I couldn't cover the entire layer of marshmallows and ended up leaving about ½ to 1 inch edges. Cool completely in the pan, then transfer to the refrigerator and chill for a good 4 hours or so.
- When ready to cut, lift from pan and set on a big cutting board. With a chef's knife, trim the edges where the chocolate frosting did not reach. Now score the cake in half, then score each half into 12 bars so that you get 24 bars total.
Courtney says
Oh man, these bring back memories of childhood! My mom used to always make these for us, and up until now I could never remember the name! Must. Make. Now. 🙂
Jalanda says
@Adam: Your Peanut Butter suggestion is EPIC!
I'd rather sub the peanut butter suggestion for the marshmallow layer...
Oh no... I think I'm gonna get into trouble with these.
KAnn says
Creme de Colorado is a great book. I think you will enjoy it! The Junior League of Denver has done four excellent cookbooks. (I wasn't crazy about the 5th and most recent one but it seemed to have more meat recipes than the others and I am vegetarian.) I think C de CO has the breckenridge Bars which are very good!
Rachel says
these look amazing! i love the thick crust idea and of course FROSTING! 🙂
Katrina says
Ooh, those do sound really good!
Fallon says
The filling sounds delicious!!!
Anonymous says
This is a recipe that won the Pillsbury bake-off back in the 70s/80s I believe.
J3nn (Jenn's Menu and Lifestyle Blog) says
Oh my goodness! I want a (Rocky) mountain of them! YUMMM
Sue says
Oh my! Those really look over the top good!
Adam says
Where would these lie on the "sweetness scale"?
And there must be a way to cram peanut butter into that thing 🙂 -- that would be pretty ultimate :).
Lisa Ernst says
Awesome! Good point Anna -- if this doesn't do it for me, what will???
Supergoo says
Anna
I thought your recipe looked interesting so I compared it to my Rocky Road Fudge Bars that I got years ago from Portland's Palate. The recipes are exactly the same, so this must be an old recipe. I will vouch for it - it is absolutely fantastically delicious; people can hardly stop eating it!
Louise says
I have "Creme de Colorado", but have never made these. I'll be interested to hear the co-worker verdict. What did you think?
natalie (the sweets life) says
YUM! will you let us know what your husband's coworkers thought?!
bakingblonde says
Wow, those sound like one huge indulgence! Where do folks come up with these ideas?