This one’s for you, peanut butter & chocolate lovers! Those of you who enjoyed my Buckeye recipe or my No-Bake Cookies will love this easy no-bake treat!
No-Bake Peanut Butter Bars
Smooth and creamy, chocolate/peanut butter heaven. I literally can’t think of a better way to get your peanut butter/chocolate fix right now. And how perfect and easy are these for Christmas? They may not be cookies but I want a few on my cookie tray (right next to the peanut butter blossoms, please). These no-bake bars remind me of a cold, creamy chocolate covered (no-thermometer-required) version of my peanut butter fudge. But so much easier!
What You Need
Creamy peanut butter. I don’t recommend using a natural peanut butter (the kind where the oil separates) as the bars may not firm up properly. Butter. I use salted for these peanut butter bars. Powdered sugar. Brown Sugar. This adds a nice depth of flavor. Some people have noted that they can taste a slight grittiness from the brown sugar but I have never experienced this. Feel free to leave it out if your brown sugar is particularly coarse. Vanilla extract. Semisweet chocolate. You can use a bar of chocolate or chocolate chips. If using chocolate chips I recommend using a bit of shortening as well to thin the chocolate.
What You Don’t Need
Graham cracker crumbs! I’ve had peanut butter bars in the past made with graham cracker crumbs and honestly was never a fan. Too much grit, maybe? When I tried a few versions with crumbs added even Zach complained about the “sandy” texture that they had. Peanut butter bars should be creamy and luxuriously smooth, and these are. Save the crumbs for your graham cracker crusts!
Now, since there are no crumbly graham cracker bits in here, we are going to need to chill the bars a bit longer in the fridge for them to firm up properly. They’ll need a few hours in the fridge to set completely and you’ll have a super smooth and creamy, melt-in-your-mouth, peanut butter explosion beneath a snappy semisweet chocolate shell. However, I definitely won’t judge you if you break down after 30 minutes (or without refrigerating at all) and go to town with a spoon. We’ve all been there.
Enjoy!
More Peanut Butter & Chocolate Recipes to Try!
Scotcharoos Homemade Reese’s Cups Peanut Butter Blossoms
Let’s bake together! Follow me on my YouTube channel where I’ve already uploaded over 200 recipe videos that you can watch for free!
This recipe was originally published 08/03/2017. Photos and recipe updated and a video has been added to (hopefully!) be more helpful. Some of the original photos can be seen above.
