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Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

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posted: 03/22/20

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy

These Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars are a classic recipe that your whole family will love! Easy to make, six ingredients, and melt in your mouth good!

two square chocolate peanut butters, one with a bite out of it stacked on another on a white surface, more in the background

How are you?

We are doing our best here to stay positive, be smart, and look for the silver linings.

One silver lining (that sometimes needs a little polishing) is the time to do things with my kids. Like baking!

My kids LOVE helping in the kitchen, so I’m always on the hunt for easy baking (or in this case no baking) recipes that my kids can help with.

This great peanut butter bar recipe came from my grandma’s church cookbook. It’s a classic, and it’s delicious. Something perfect to do with your kids!

INGREDIENTS

One of the best things about this recipe is how few ingredients it has

  • Butter
  • Box of Graham Crackers
  • Powdered Sugar
  • Peanut Butter
  • Vanilla
  • Chocolate Chips

HOW TO MAKE NO BAKE PEANUT BUTTER BARS

  1. Use a food processor to crush the graham crackers. Another suggestion would be to put them in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush them.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the graham crackers, powdered sugar, butter, peanut butter, and vanilla. Stir until fully combined.
  3. Melt the remaining butter and chocolate together in a small bowl on half power.
  4. Pour the chocolate over the bars and allow to set, at least an hour in the refrigerator.

POWDERED SUGAR

You’ll notice we are using powdered sugar and not granulated sugar. This is the best call because it incorporates so perfectly. With granulated sugar you’re more likely to get a gritty texture.

SUBSTITUTIONS

These would be great with Ritz crackers instead of graham crackers. Make certain you use unsalted butter.

You could swap out the topping for some chocolate frosting. Make sure your bars are chilled for easy spreading.

stack of five peanut butter bars

OTHER GREAR NO BAKE RECIPES

My S’mores Chocolate Bark is a viral recipe that everyone loves!

No Bake Baileys Chocolate Pie is another recipe that people go crazy for!

Easy Fudge is only THREE ingredients and the base for so many great fudge recipes.

If you need more peanut butter desserts, you definitely want to make my Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies.

If you make these great Peanut Butter Bars, leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

And as I’ve said before, if there is a recipe you are looking for right now, or something you think would be helpful please reach out!

stack of five peanut butter chocolate bars, top one has a bite out of it
stack of five peanut butter chocolate bars, top one has a bite out of it
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Peanut Butter Bars

Serves: 24 bars
(tap # to scale)
Prep: 20 minutes
Total: 1 hour 20 minutes
These Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars are a classic recipe that your whole family will love! Easy to make, six ingredients, and melt in your mouth good!

Ingredients

  • 3 cups graham cracker crumbs 14.4 ounces or 408 grams
  • 1 cup unsalted butter melted
  • 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar 10 ounces
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Chocolate Topping

  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips 6 ounces
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter

Instructions

  • Using a food processor, grind the graham crackers to a fine crumb. (If you don't have a food processor, you could put the crackers in a sealable plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush them.)
  • In a large bowl stir together the crumbs, 1 cup melted butter, sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla. It may be difficult to mix at first but will come together to be a thick dough.
  • Press the dough into a 9 by 13 inch pan that has been sprayed with non stick spray.
  • In a microwave safe bowl, combine the remaining 8 tablespoons butter and chocolate. Cook for 1 minute, at half power, stir very well. Microwave in 15 second intervals stirring very well in between until smooth. Pour over bars. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour before cutting.
Serving: 1bar Calories: 308kcal (15%) Carbohydrates: 17g (6%) Protein: 4g (8%) Fat: 20g (31%) Saturated Fat: 10g (63%) Monounsaturated Fat: 3g Cholesterol: 33mg (11%) Sodium: 143mg (6%) Potassium: 3mg Fiber: 2g (8%) Sugar: 8g (9%)
Author: Lisa Longley
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
stack of five peanut butter chocolate bars, top one has a bite out of it

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Peanut Butter Bars

I’d love to see what you made! Tag me @lisasimplejoy and hashtag it #simplejoyrecipes!

Hi! I'm Lisa Longley, and I am committed to giving you simple dinner ideas and recipes that are easy to make; recipes that will fill your home with joy. I am the owner and author of SimpleJoy.com and I'm so glad that you are here.

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  1. Jo-Anne says

    What are the portions for the butter? How much of the 2 1/2 cups of butter goes in the batter and how much goes in the chocolate. I didn’t see anywhere about how you divide it.

    • Lisa Longley says

      Sorry about that, it was broken down in the ingredient list, but I updated the instructions to make it more clear.

  2. Dawn says

    Hi Lisa, I have to ask… I just have to lol! What is the nutritive value of this dessert? Thanks!

  3. Betty Chew says

    My husband made this for Christmas this year. They were DELICIOUS!! The bottom layer did seem a bit dry and slightly crumbly, not too bad though. What would be easy to add to make it moister? We will definitely make them again.

    • Lisa Longley says

      I’m sorry it turned out crumbly! Is it possible that you used either a little more of graham cracker crumbs or powdered sugar? Next time if it feels like it’s too crumbly, you could try just adding a tiny bit (like less than a tablespoon) of melted butter at a time until you are getting consistency you want. You don’t want to add to much or it won’t set.

  4. May Bochette says

    Love these no bake sweet ideas. Thank you for sharing. Looking forward for more ideas

    • Lisa Longley says

      You’ll have to let me know what you try, Mae!

  5. Linda says

    If you can’t use butter what is a good replacement?

    • Lisa Longley says

      I’m sorry, Linda, I would need to test the recipe with butter replacements before I felt good about recommending one.

  6. Carol says

    I have a bag of pretzels to use up. I wonder if this would work with pretzels?? They are a little coarser and saltier so I don’t know.

    • Lisa Longley says

      This wouldn’t be my favorite way to use up pretzels. I think the coarseness is going to throw things off al little.

  7. Joe Asi says

    You are great Ma’am

    • Lisa Longley says

      Thank you!

  8. Susan Delgado says

    Delicious

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