Peanut butter bars are easy snacks that require no baking, they are sweet and melt easily in your mouth. Making these chocolate peanut butter bars is as easy as making peanut butter fudge; the only difference is the chocolate that sits on top of the bars, which makes it a unique combination. The top is just a simple melted dark chocolate mix with peanut butter, this helps to keep the chocolate soft for easy cutting. You can go creative with your peanut butter bars by designing the top with melted peanut butter before refrigerating, I find out that kids love this part a lot.
These peanut butter bars can be made and enjoyed at any time of the year and they are great for a large gathering. However, I would prefer to serve them during Christmas or Easter season.
This is a no-bake peanut butter bars recipe, that doesn’t require an oven or cooking, everything is done in one bowl on the counter. The chocolate topping is simply melted chocolate mixed with a little peanut butter, I went creative with my topping, all I did was to drizzle 2 tablespoons of melted peanut butter on the surface of the chocolate. I then used a fork handle to make an irregular pattern which is what gave the beautiful design you see on my peanut butter bars above. However, you don’t have to do all of that, you can just have a plain chocolate topping, it’s simply optional.
You should also watch the youtube video below on how to make peanut butter bars, the video is very detailed.
Table of Contents
Why I used the above ingredients
Peanut butter is the number one ingredient in this recipe, it is creamy and buttery. I used a little butter and I tried as much as possible to prevent too much fat and oil in my peanut butter bars. You only need a little butter to bind the cracker crumbs and the peanut butter together; in that case, salted or unsalted butter. but I used salted butter.
Cracker crumbs give the peanut bars a beautiful structure; you can use any of your favorite crackers and reduce them into crumbs with the use of a food processor, or simply break them up in a ziplock bag.
Your leftover peanut butter bars can be stored in the freezer in an airtight container for up to 3 months or in the fridge for 4 days.
Peanut butter bars ingredients
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 and 1/2 cups of cracker crumbs
- Dark chocolate, 200g
- 3 tablespoons of sugar powder
- 4 tablespoons of salted butter
- Vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon
Steps on how to make peanut butter bars
- Place your crackers in a food processor or plastic bag and crush them into smaller crumbs.
- Transfer the cracker crumbs into a bowl and add in peanut butter, icing sugar, and vanilla extract.
- Melt 4 tablespoons of butter and add to the bowl; then mix all your ingredients together using a spatula until they form a paste.
- Transfer the mixture to a square-shaped pan lined with parchment paper, spread out the paste, and level the surface evenly. Set it aside.
- Melt some dark chocolate with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter using a double boiler; stir while it melts to have a smooth consistency.
- Let the chocolate cool for 1 minute, then pour it over the peanut mixture; and spread it out evenly until it covers the peanut.
- Gradually drop 2 tablespoons of melted peanut butter on the surface and use a fork handle to gently draw irregular patterns all over the surface.
- Cover and place the pan in the fridge for 2 hours to set and become firm Once it has become firm, cut into uniform square shapes and enjoy.
- Store the remaining in the freezer and thaw them whenever you want to snack on them.