Peanut cheese bar – Earthbound (Mother 2)

The Mother/Earthbound series of games stink! No, but really they’re just a fun, quirky culmination of both child and adult themes ranging from oh-so-silly to deadly serious. It’s almost as if the creators set out to make the player feel every single emotion in one easy to play video game. I laughed, I cried, I raged at trying to get a perfect rhythm chain each battle. It’s a super charming world in which it tries to replicate what I imagine would be a foreigners take on what America looked like if they had never visited.

And what’s better is that the intentionally kooky interpretation of western food churns out an array of wacky items. Hot Dog Sushi and Strawberry Tofu make an appearance in these games, just to list just a couple of the weirdest consumables (I later looked up “Hot Dog Sushi” and apparently it’s a ‘thing’ in Hawaii).

When eaten, you recover about 100 HP

A Peanut Cheese Bar is also a treat Ness and the gang enjoy. However, before you take the bars name at face value, I must remind you that cheese can be sweet, ie cheesecake. Its not a gross cheddar cheese concoction (Although I’ve also seen that cheese and peanut butter sandwiches are enjoyed by Americans). So to pay my respect to a game I love, I made Peanut “Cheese” Bars myself. These feature a pretzel crust and a frozen peanut butter cheesecake filling. Enjoy!

Fun Fact: “This Game Stinks!” was the slogan for Earthbound. This is referring to the scratch and sniff stickers featured in the games manual.

Ingredients:

Crust
3/4 cup margarine, softened
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 1/2 cups crushed pretzels

Filling
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 (5 ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whipped cream

Directions:

In a medium bowl, mix together margarine, sugar and pretzels. Press the mixture into a 9×13 inch baking pan. Chill for 10-15 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in condensed milk and peanut butter until smooth. Stir in lemon juice and vanilla. Fold in whipped cream. Pour into prepared tin. Freeze for 4 hours or until firm. This must always remain frozen! (Serves up to 12 as it is very filling).

Fun Fact: There are hundreds of pop culture references in Mother. A whopping 14 confirmed references are dedicated to The Beatles alone, including the bonus alternative names of the main characters themselves.

DIFFICULTY: ONE MOOGLE