Regular readers may notice I have a bit of a thing for chocolate + peanut butter. I’ve made chocolate peanut butter cups (which is the most popular recipes on my blog), chocolate peanut butter slices, chocolate peanut butter macarons, chocolate peanut butter cup cupcakes and even peanut butter, chocolate, toffee and bacon cupcakes! There are even more chocolate + peanut butter combinations I’ve made, but these linked above have been my favorites.
I’ve been wanting to try a no-bake chocolate peanut butter bar recipe for a while and I finally got inspired to do when I saw this recipe at Our Best Bites (and they’ll soon be releasing a cookbook, by the way!). The recipe looked so easy and so quick to prepare that I couldn’t pass it up.
I did a couple of things differently, which I’ll make a note of in case it may help others with this recipe:
First of all, I decided to halve the recipe, so I used an 8×8-inch square metal pan, and divided all the ingredient quantities in half.
Second, my main obstacle was that Australia has no graham crackers! I substituted the graham cracker crumbs with a relatively similar-tasting biscuit made by Arnott’s – the Nice biscuit. They can be crumbled into fine crumbs in a food processor or by bashing and rolling the biscuits in a Ziploc bag with a trusty rolling pin.
Third, the original recipe used shortening in the chocolate layer, but I don’t like shortening (and there is no shortening in Australia); the original recipe said that peanut butter could be used instead of shortening, which would keep the chocolate layer softer; I thought the peanut butter idea was a good one, but that Nutella would be even better, so I used Nutella. Also, you may be interested to know that I used Lindt 50% chocolate.
These bars tasted almost exactly like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. I’m tempted to use the peanut butter layer recipe to make another batch of chocolate peanut butter cups!
Do make sure that you don’t allow the bars to fully set in the refrigerator before cutting them up into individual squares – it’s best to do the cutting while the chocolate is firm, but not runny or hard. The chocolate might crack a bit as you cut it if you leave it to fully set, which would result in a not-so-neat presentation. My main tip in eating these bars is, if you’re storing them in the refrigerator, to let them sit at room temperature for about 15-20 minutes before enjoying them, they taste much better this way. They’re still fine straight from the ‘fridge, but for some reason the peanut butter taste isn’t so strong. So let them sit out of the ‘fridge for a bit and you’ll experience nearly the same awesome satisfaction you get as you bite into a Reese’s Cup!
Adapted from Our Best Bites
Makes 12-16 squares, depending on how you want to cut it
Ingredients
3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cups creamy peanut butter
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
6oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 teaspoons Nutella (or peanut butter)
Method
In a large mixing bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, peanut butter and butter and beat until combined. Press into a parchment-lined 8X8-inch pan, making sure top is smooth and level.
Melt chocolate and Nutella in a double boiler. Pour chocolate over peanut butter layer and spread out evenly (I tilted the pan around to get a smooth top, instead of spreading it out with a knife). Place pan in refrigerator just until chocolate is set and then cut into bars. Best served at room temperature.
Chocolate and peanut butter are simply the best combination when it comes to sweets in my humble opinion. These look delicious and I love that they’re so easy! I’ll have to try this recipe out soon, thanks for sharing it!
That looks deeelicious! I freaking LOVE chocolate and peanut butter. The chocolate looks so smooth! Lovely.
These definitely look too good to pass up! I just love the perfect smoothness of the chocolate on top. Brilliant!
your bar looks PERFECT. Seriously, so shiny and pretty! and I bet it tastes amazing as well!
-Amalia http://buttersweetmelody.wordpress.com
OMG, these look incredible… not to mention EASY with only 6 ingredients! must.make.now.
I just made the version of this I posted quite a while back. I made a double batch so we could eat some and put some in the freezer. My recipe is different than this one though. Aren’t chocolate and pb one of the best combinations?? Yum.
Oh, these look wonderful! It is so strange to hear you say you do not have shortening there. I promise though, it’s for the better, that’s some unhealthy stuff
I may have to whip up a nice, big batch of these!
That looks great. I love everything peanut butter.
Your recipe was posted.
That sounds very good. I
‘d put a twist on the recipe and put a layer of crunchy peanutbutter between the crumb layer and the chocolate layer. It would give the whole thing another dimension.
Mind you, the origial sounds too good not to try. I certainly will.
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Love this… sounds and looks gorgeous. I’ll have to try it & the Nutella and chocolate topping is going to become a favourite I’m sure!!
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! I’m obsessed with chocolate and peanut butter, but have passed up recipes like this in the past because of the no-grahams-in-Aus thing. Can’t believe I never thought of Nice biscuits! Definitely going to make this once all the Christmas cookies are gone
Your photo looks awesome. The chocolate topping is a smooth as ice or glass!
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