Peanut Butter No-Bake Bars
Published May 29, 2020
- Total Time
- 20 minutes, plus chilling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 3tablespoons butter
- 1cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy), or use another nut butter
- Pinch of kosher salt (optional)
- ½cup cookie crumbs, such as graham crackers or gingersnaps, or use almond flour, coconut flour or shredded coconut
- About 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 6ounces chocolate chips or chopped chocolate, any percentage (1 cup)
- ½tablespoon coconut oil or butter
- Flaky sea salt, shredded coconut, sliced almonds, chopped honey-roasted peanuts, or crushed pretzels, for sprinkling (optional)
For the Base
For the Topping
Preparation
- Step 1
Make the base: Heat butter in a pot or skillet, letting it melt and bubble and turn brown. It will smell nutty. Add peanut butter, and turn off the heat. (If your nut butter is unsalted, add a pinch of salt.) Stir it all around until the peanut butter melts, then stir in crumbs.
- Step 2
Sweeten the mix to taste with confectioners’ sugar. That could mean 1 cup, but try it as you go.
- Step 3
Spread the mixture into parchment or foil lined 8-by-8-inch pan, but really, any pan will work.
- Step 4
Make the topping: Add chocolate chips and coconut oil to a small pot, and melt the chocolate on the stovetop over low heat, stirring constantly. (Alternatively, add to a microwaveable bowl, and microwave in 20-second bursts, stirring in between each one.)
- Step 5
Spread the melted chocolate over the peanut butter layer. Sprinkle any of the toppings over, and refrigerate until the peanut butter and chocolate layers are set, about 1 hour or so. Cut these into bars or squares with a knife, or use cookie cutters for shapes. (Store in the refrigerator after cutting; they’ll melt in a warm room.)
Private Notes
Comments
Delicious treat! All the joy of peanut butter fudge or buckeye balls but with way less effort. Maybe this was supposed to be obvious, but you should refrigerate the peanut butter mix after you put it in the pan, before you top with chocolate. Let the base firm up. Otherwise it’s so soft that the chocolate sinks and forms a very uneven layer.
I used Rice Krispies as a binder and it turned out delicious and crunchy!
For anyone trying to reduce or sub out the powdered sugar, you may want to incorporate a tablespoon of cornstarch. Cornstarch is a component of powdered sugar and should help with setting the texture of the bottom layer so that it's not too soft/runny.
I'm so glad I gave these away, I would have eaten then all otherwise.
I have been making these but subbing out the powered sugar for protein powder. Also adding hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds and dried fruit for little protein pick me ups! Have added whey powder and collagen and they still taste great!
These are dangerously delicious and feel like a very grown-up treat with a cup of strong dark coffee. I omitted the butter because of the oil in the peanut butter and used some supermarket own-brand digestives (UK crunchy wholemeal biscuits) and a crunchy peanut butter for the base. I cooked it until it smelt really nutty, which resulted in a very satisfyingly crunchy base. I topped the base with a really good quality dark chocolate (because the base was quite firm, I didn’t need to chill it first) and some toasted pecans, hazelnuts and coconut flakes. The crack of the chocolate when you bite in is immensely satisfying. Amazingly, they lasted almost a week in the fridge and stayed firm and crunchy to the end. Other recipes I have made like this tend to go soggy after a few days. I think the trick for me was making the base slightly drier, the extra cooking time and toasting all the nuts before adding them to the top.