Recipe: Chocolate Peanut-Butter Bars

August 30, 2012 By: Serena

It has been a while since I brought some sweet treats into the office (the last time was a luscious fruit tart in June), and it was due time!  I decided to use this dessert-making opportunity to respond to a comment that anniegurumi left of my peach cobbler post – a request for an easy-to-make dessert that didn’t require an oven.   What a great idea for summer!  I decided to make something that features one of my favorite combinations – chocolate and peanut butter.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that this isn’t my typical recipe at all…

I usually try to make all of my desserts from scratch, and you’ll see that there are several “ready-made” ingredients in the below list, such as “modern day” peanut butter (I eat natural almond butter nowadays) and graham crackers.  So, I’ll be the first to admit that this dessert is a little sweeter than my typical desserts – but still scrumptious and oh-so-easy!  You ready for some no-bake dessert creations?

Recipe adapted from Peanut Butter Bars on allrecipes

You will need:

• 15 graham cracker sheets (where each sheet has 4 small crackers)
• 1.5 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 cup smooth peanut butter
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 5 tbsp smooth peanut butter

 

1.  Line a 9×13″ baking pan with foil

2.  Using a rolling pin and a ziploc bag, crush the graham crackers into fine crumbs.  You should end up with approximately 2 cups of crumbs.

3.  Melt the butter in the microwave.  Mix together melted butter, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners’ sugar and 1 cup of peanut butter until well blended.

4.  Press into the bottom of the baking pan.

5.  Melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter in the microwave, stirring occasionally until smooth.

6.  Spread over the prepared crust. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.

These were rich, satisfying, and a hit at the office!  Would I make them all the time? Probably not – they are super extravagant!  But if you’re looking for an easy go-to dessert that doesn’t involve the oven, give these chocolate peanut butter bars a try.

What’s your favorite dessert flavor combination?

6 Comments to “Recipe: Chocolate Peanut-Butter Bars”

1. 

   Jessica T says:

   August 30, 2012 at 10:44 am

   These sound so good! I’ll have to make a batch this weekend

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2. 

   Tara @ Chip Chip Hooray says:

   August 30, 2012 at 12:17 pm

   Yum! A college roommate of mine used to make bars just like these–they’re so delicious!

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3. 

   Kim says:

   August 30, 2012 at 9:57 pm

   Yum! I love peanut butter, but I gave up eating most nuts and seeds. Something about that Skippy jar makes me so happy, though!

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4. 

   Kate says:

   August 31, 2012 at 11:25 am

   dude, i made these all.the.time (until i moved very, very far away from real butter and graham crackers) and love them. they served them in my public school cafeteria growing up and called them “peanut butter candy” so one day in my first year of teaching i searched for the recipe. since then, i’ve made far too many batches than can be healthy for any one person. cheers and yum!

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5. 

   Sandra's Easy Cooking says:

   August 31, 2012 at 11:53 am

   Oh those look amazing! What a great recipe and pictures are tempting! Thank you for sharing and have a wonderful Labor day weekend!

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6. 

   Amy says:

   September 1, 2012 at 3:20 pm

   So easy and yummy!

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   Reply