Recipe: Sweet and Salty Peanut Butter Bars

Lilah Schulte,

Interested in leveling up your dessert game? This sweet and savory, no-bake recipe is a great start!

These bars are no-bake so they don’t go in the oven, they just go in the refrigerator. This means they are very easy to make and delicious! This recipe can also easily be made gluten-free, which is how I like to make them. Just substitute the graham crackers for gluten-free graham crackers and the pretzels for gluten-free pretzels. (If you use gluten-free graham crackers, the peanut butter is more textured which is delicious.) This recipe was adapted from No-Bake Pretzel Peanut Butter Bars by Budget Bytes.  

Ingredients:

1 cup of graham cracker crumbs (you can buy them in crumb form, if available)

½ cup of salted butter

1 cup of creamy peanut butter

1 cup of powdered sugar

1 ½ cups of chocolate chips

Toppings: (I suggest these, but you can add on any toppings you like!)

½ cup of chopped pretzels

⅓ cup of chopped peanuts 

1 tsp. of coarse sea salt

Recipe:

  1. Line an 8 x 8 inch baking pan with parchment paper.
  2. If the graham crackers are not already in crumb form, you can prepare them by putting the graham crackers into a plastic bag and using a rolling pin to smash them into a fine crumb.
  3. Take the butter and peanut butter and microwave them together in 30 second intervals til they have melted together. Mix in between each of the 30 seconds. (Make sure to use a microwave safe bowl!)
  4. Mix together the melted butter and peanut butter with the powdered sugar and the graham cracker crumbs.
  5. Spread an even layer of the peanut butter mixture into the bottom of the baking pan.
  6. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals. Mix between each interval. 
  7. Like before, spread an even layer of chocolate on top of the peanut butter mixture.
  8. Before the chocolate hardens, quickly sprinkle on all three of the toppings. (You can gently press down on the toppings to make them stick in the chocolate more.)
  9. Let the bars cool in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.
  10. Take the bars out and cut them into rectangles. (The chocolate will be hard so I suggest letting it sit for 10 or more minutes before cutting.)

Want to save them for later? Leave them covered at room temperature for a day, or refrigerate for later.

Photo Credit: Lilah Schulte

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