There are a couple things in this world that I know to be true, and one of these is that you’ll never go wrong combining chocolate with peanut butter.  Can I get an “AMEN?”

We’re going on a camping trip down in Monterey with Devin’s cousin and her boyfriend this weekend, and I wanted to make something sweet for us to snack on.  I decided on no bake chocolate peanut butter bars, mostly due to a) my aforementioned love of chocolate paired with peanut butter and b) I had all of the ingredients on hand already.

Warning: yes there is confectioner’s sugar, and yes there is melted butter…but hey, I never claimed that this was a health food blog .

Ingredients (recipe adapted from Bites Out of Life)

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1 1/4 cups creamy peanut butter
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) melted butter
• 1 (10 oz.) bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 heaping spoonful of peanut butter

Line an 11″ x 7″ pan with foil or parchment paper.  (Note: Originally I wanted them to be on the thicker side, but after tasting them, next time I’d use a larger pan so the bars come out thinner).

Make your graham cracker crumbs by either pulsing the crackers in a food processor, or do like I did and put them in a large ziploc bag and crush with a rolling pin.

I used Simply Jif creamy peanut butter which has less sodium and 33% less sugar.  If you use regular peanut butter, I would cut out about 1/2 cup of the confectioner’s sugar because these bars are pretty sweet.  Not that I’m complaining.

In a large mixing bowl (if you’re using a hand mixer) or a stand mixer bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, confectioner’s sugar, 1 1/4 cups of the peanut butter and melted butter and blend until combined.  The mixture will have a fairly dense consistency.  Then you should grab a spoon and taste some. Quality control is key .

Press the mixture into your lined pan and set aside.

Put the chocolate chips and heaping spoon of peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until you get a nice smooth consistency.  Mine took about 1 1/2 minutes.

Pour the melted chocolate over the peanut butter mixture and stare in amazement at all of that glorious shiny chocolatey-ness.

Then spread it out evenly and pop in the freezer for 15-20 minutes until the chocolate is set and cut into squares.

I definitely recommend having them with a glass of milk.  They were too sweet for Devin, but I liked them in moderation.  If I were to make them again, I’d probably cut the sugar even more and make them in a larger pan so that the bars are thinner with a more even peanut butter to chocolate ratio.

At any rate, they should curb any sweet tooth that pops up this weekend!

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