For most people, the thought of baking on a hot summer day sounds less than appetizing. Which is why I’ve been scouring Pinterest for fun and yummy dessert recipes to try when the mercury is at its highest. A few weeks back my friend gave me a dessert from her sorority and I instantly fell in love with the taste.
Imagine a buttery, graham cracker/peanut butter filling topped off with a layer of chocolate. Needless to say I had to leave before I ate the entire plate.
So started my mission: I needed to know what these delicious morsels were. I hopped on Pinterest and searched for ‘peanut butter chocolate bars.’ Thankfully I was taken to exactly what I wanted: recipes for No Bake Peanut Butter Bars. I didn’t have the ingredients at the time, to my dismay, but I vowed to try the recipe before the school year was over.
Now, I have a lot of guy friends who enjoy being the test subjects for my baking experiments and with the weather we’ve been having in Eugene I thought it would be a perfect time to make a tasty treat that doesn’t have to be cooked in the oven. So, I chose the first recipe that came up after searching the Pinboards and went to town.
Before I even get to whether or not they turned out, I want to stress how EASY this recipe is to follow. It takes about 20 minutes to prepare, with all the melting you have to do on the stove, and then you just have to let the bars cool for 30 minutes in the fridge. I’ll be honest; I put them in the freezer for the last five minutes because I was so eager to try them.
First, line a small baking dish with tin foil so the bars don’t get stuck to the bottom while they harden. Then, melt ½ cup of butter in a pot or saucepan. Then mix in 1 ¾ cups powdered sugar. Make sure you take the butter off the stovetop before mixing the powdered sugar in, or the sugar will burn to the bottom.
After the mixture is at a good consistency, mix in 1 cup of peanut butter, and then ¾ cups of Graham cracker crumbs. Once that is all mixed together you can put the mixture into the baking dish and spread it evenly. Now, use the same pot to melt ¼ cup of butter with ½ cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. After it is all melted pour the mixture over the top of the peanut butter mixture, spread evenly, and toss it in the fridge for 30 minutes! It was as simple as pie, but thankfully not as messy.
After about 25 minutes, my bars were ready. I took the foil out of the baking dish, cut them, and put them on a plate. Out of the 16 bars I made, 10 were gone in 5 minutes. They were great! If you are planning on making them for a large group I would suggest doubling or even tripling the recipe because this one makes a small amount. I think it goes without saying but, I’ll be making them again. See the full recipe below:
For the bottom:
½ cup of butter
1 ¾ cup of powdered sugar
1 cup of peanut butter
¾ cup of graham cracker crumbs
Melt the butter, mix in the powdered sugar, then add the peanut butter and graham cracker crumbs.
For the top:
¼ cup butter
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Mix together then spread evenly over the bottom layer.
Put the bars in the fridge for 30 minutes, remove, cut and enjoy.
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