Ooooh yeah… peanut butter and chocolate… Chocolate and peanut butter. There aren’t many things that go together better than peanut butter and chocolate, and that’s why we all love Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups so much. It’s why many of our desserts like Reece’s Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Dessert Waffles and Reece’s Peanut Butter Cup And Pound Cake Piles use the two ingredients. But we don’t always have Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups on hand, I don’t always want to go to the store to buy them, and then there is sadness.
Luckily the solution is simple: No Bake Peanut Butter Bars.
With gobs of peanut butter and milk chocolate chips, these No Bake Peanut Butter Bars give you all deliciousness of Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups but in an easy to make, no bake, dessert bar. Really, they are so easy that Peanut Butter Bars may just be your new go to recipe for parties and potlucks.
Yumminess, speed, and ease aren’t the only things that make this recipe special though — it’s also one little twist on the typical peanut butter bar ingredient list…
Most peanut butter bar recipes use graham cracker crumbs in the peanut butter crust, which do taste great, but I replace the graham cracker crumbs with crushed Nilla Wafers. Those little cookies are so good on their own, and when added to my No Bake Peanut Butter Bars, they just make this dessert bar explode with flavor.
How To Make Peanut Butter Bars
These are simple No Bake Peanut Butter Bars, so you don’t have to preheat the oven, making this a great dessert for warm weather and the blazing hot summer.
That makes my first step lining a 13×9″ baking dish with foil. This allows me to lift the whole block of peanut butter bars out of baking dish and onto a cutting board, which also means none get ruined wile trying to lift the first few out of the dish.
The second step is to mix the ingredients — butter, peanut butter, powdered sugar, and crushed Nilla Wafers — until fully combined and spread it evenly across the bottom of the 13×9″ baking dish. This becomes the peanut butter crust or base of the dessert bar.
The third step is to melt the milk chocolate chips and a little bit of peanut butter in a double boiler (or in the microwave), stirring occasionally until any lumps are gone. Pour the milk chocolate mixture evenly over the peanut butter crust until it is covered completely and refrigerate for 60-90 minutes.
When the bars have set, simply take them out of the refrigerator, lift the entire block of Peanut Butter Bars out of the dish and transfer it to large a cutting board. Remove the foil, cut the block into single serving bars, and serve.
Seriously, how easy is that?!
All you have to do is mix the ingredients, put the dough in a dish, pour the melted chocolate on top, let it sit in the refrigerator, cut them up, and serve them. And even better, you didn’t have to use your oven and your baking dish is still clean because you lined it with foil.
I love this recipe not just because it is so easy, but because every time we bring it to a potluck or party, the bars get devoured almost instantly — and when I tell them they are No Bake Peanut Butter Bars, I am always asked for the recipe. Everyone agrees the chocolate to peanut butter ratio is perfect and they do taste just like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.
No Bake Peanut Butter Bars
With gobs of peanut butter and milk chocolate chips, these No Bake Peanut Butter Bars give you all deliciousness of Reece's Peanut Butter Cups but in an easy to make, no bake, dessert bar.
Prep Time
Total Time
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 2 cups Nilla Wafers, crushed
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup + 4 tbsp peanut butter
- 12 oz. milk chocolate chips
Instructions
- Line a 13x9" baking pan with foil.
- In a medium bowl, mix together butter, Nilla Wafer crumbs, powdered sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until fully blended.
- Spread peanut butter mixture evenly into the 13x9" pan, covering the bottom of the pan evenly.
- Melt the milk chocolate chips and remaining 4 tablespoons peanut butter in a double boiler, stirring occasionally until smooth.
- Spread chocolate mixture over the peanut butter layer in the 13x9" pan. Refrigerate for at least one hour. Cut into squares.
Notes:
While milk chocolate chips give the peanut butter bars a flavor closest to Reece's Peanut Butter Cups, semisweet chocolate chips can be used if you prefer your peanut butter bars a little less sweet.
Lining the baking dish with foil is optional. It just makes it much easier to remove the bars from the dish and faster to clean up!
