sweets for every tooth.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

No-Bake Peanut Butter Bars



Ohmigoodness. That's all I, and quite often anyone who tries these, can say about my Peanut Butter Bars. Oh, and occasionally men propose. No joke. They are my version of a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup, and will convert anyone to a love of the perfect combination of peanut butter and chocolate. Better yet? No oven or stove necessary. Here's what you need:

3/4 Cup Butter, Room Temperature (you can use anywhere from 1/2 C to 1 C, just changes the texture a bit)
1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
2 Cups Powdered Sugar
2 Cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
(I like to run grahams through the food processor until they are super fine, makes the base of this treat extra smooth. But smashing them in a plastic bag with a rolling pin will work just fine.)

Combine above ingredients in a large bowl and mix until smooth. This is easiest with an electric mixer, but if you've got a killer set of biceps, just pull out a big wooden spoon and go at it. Press mixture into a 9x13 pan. I find it is easiest to ultimately remove the bars if you line the pan with wax paper and let the paper come up over the edges. If you want thicker bars, use a smaller pan, or use muffin cups!

Place the peanut-butter-mixture-in-a-pan in the fridge for 15 minutes while you prepare the top layer, for which you'll need:

1 1/2 Cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
(go milk chocolate or dark chocolate to taste)
4 Tbs Peanut Butter (If you start with a 16oz jar of PB, what's left over after the 1 Cup previously used is about 4 Tbs.)

Combine chocolate and PB in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave until melted, about 1 minute, stirring every 30 seconds. Remove PB base from the fridge and spread melted chocolate evenly over the top. Garnish as you would like, with some drizzled peanut butter or powdered sugar (get creative!)

Put your bars back in the fridge, these are best served cold! Hint: It can be a little difficult to slice the bars once the chocolate has fully hardened, so try removing from the fridge after about 20 minutes and pre-slicing the bars.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cooking with Caity!!! I love it. looks delish.

CK

Anonymous said...

Great job, Miss. Yum! JLE