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These No Bake Peanut Butter Bars are the perfect tailgating snack for a sweet dessert treat. I mean, does it get any better than peanut butter and chocolate together in a simple and easy to make no bake treat!
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Please let me know if you have any questions about this recipe. I read all the comments myself and I try to help as soon as I can. I have readers from all levels of comfort and experience in the kitchen on my site, and I’ve tried to answer some of your questions already in the post. But if I’ve missed anything, please feel free to leave a comment and ask.
Happy tailgating snacks month!
As another tailgating snacks month comes to a close, I wanted to bring you a sweet dessert treat to end the month.
Later this week I’ll be bringing you a round-up of all the awesome tailgating snacks from 2018! We had so many tasty things this year! It was really fun!
Great potluck dessert
These 5-ingredient bars come together quickly, and they were one of the things that someone always brought to the potlucks at work. I would always grab a few of these when they showed up at the potlucks. I love them!
These treats are naturally gluten-free, making them great to take to gatherings like tailgate parties.
Super easy to make and super yummy! They take less than 20 minutes to make, and are a no bake snack!
Looking for more great cookie exchange ideas?
Check out these recipes for Butter mint candies, Loaded Rice Crispy Treats, Lemon sugar cookies, Rum balls, peach cobbler cookies, lime meltaways, and all my cookie recipes.
Chunky or smooth peanut butter?
I’m a big believer in smooth peanut butter. I feel like the chunks of peanuts just get in the way.
But, if you are like my husband, you prefer the chunks. Either way, these bars will be delicious.
And, I’m a big fan of using what’s already in your kitchen; so if you have one kind of peanut butter already in your cupboard, use that one!
Experiment with different flavors
You can also experiment with other nut butters in these bars.
Try SunButter Sunflower butter as a substitute for peanut butter when allergies are a concern.
Give almond butter a try or even try some Nutella for a different taste.
Different nut butters do have different textures, and I find that melting nut butters a bit in the microwave can help loosen them. Also, you may want to use a hand mixer or a stand mixer for mixing the dough.
I think these would be fun with some crushed pretzels on top. Or, even some chopped peanuts.
Try tossing some Reese’s pieces on top for some pretty fall colors. Or, make these color themed for your favorite team with some colored M&Ms on top.
My husband suggested that he’d like to try rice krispies in the peanut butter dough, both for some added crunch, and to lighten the peanut butter part. Oh, and check out my Loaded Rice Crispies Treats.
If you love peanut butter & chocolate, be sure to check out my Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Cookies!
Can I make a bigger batch?
Of course you can!
Make these No Bake Peanut Butter Bars for a big group of people, like a big football party, a bake sale, or cookie exchange?
Use the servings slider to easily adjust the ingredient amounts on the recipe card. Click and slide the number next to “servings” on the recipe card below to adjust the ingredients to match how many you’re feeding, the recipe card does the math for you.
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Recipe
No Bake Peanut Butter Bars
Ingredients
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter divided use
- 1½ cups peanut butter
- 1½ cups light brown sugar
- 1¾ cups powdered sugar
- 1½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Line a 9×9-inch pan with aluminum foil, and set aside.
- Melt 5 tablespoons butter in a large microwave-safe bowl. Stir in peanut butter, brown sugar, and powdered sugar. Press the peanut butter mixture into the prepared pan, and chill.10 tablespoons unsalted butter, 1½ cups peanut butter, 1½ cups light brown sugar, 1¾ cups powdered sugar
- Melt the remaining 5 tablespoons butter and the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl in microwave for 1 minute. Stir, heat in 30-second increments until smooth. Pour over the peanut butter mixture.10 tablespoons unsalted butter, 1½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Chill until firm, at least two hours or overnight. Cut into bars, about 1½-inch square.
- Can be stored in refrigerator or on the counter.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations, and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
Lindsay Cotter
Love how easy these are to make! You can never go wrong with a no bake dessert treat like this!
Toni | Boulder Locavore
It looks so delish! I’m drooling!
Ellen
My absolute favorite food combination is peanut butter and chocolate. Now I must make these!
micheleq
Not only did these taste fantastic, but the ratio of peanut butter to the chocolate is perfect! It was so nice to have everything to make these and we devoured almost all of them while playing cards! Thanks so much!
betty doane
Can u freeze these
Debi
Betty, I’ve never tried it, but I bet you could treat them like fudge. Make sure the bars are cool or at room temperature. Individually wrap the pieces with plastic wrap first. Use a double wrap of plastic and wrap tightly. Then place in a large resealable freezer bag or a tupperware-type plastic air-tight container. You want to prevent ice crystals, freezer burn, and drying out. If you try it, let me know how it goes.
Ed lehman
I am always looking for easy sheet size recipes as I only bake to give away to my favorite local organizations! I’ll see if this fits my needs! It looks easy as heck and good!
Brian
Nice to have the slider for varying recipe size, it’s very useful.
It would be nice to add an option for selecting imperial or metric units of measure. .
• 10 tbls 140 grams unsalted butter divided use
• 1½ cups 270 grams peanut butter
• 1½ cups 320 grams light brown sugar
• 1¾ cups 170 grams powdered sugar
• 1½ cups 255 grams semi-sweet chocolate chips
The data in the instructions doesn’t change with the recipe size selection.
Debi
Brian, I’m glad you like the servings slider and find it useful. I do not have metric on my site because I don’t personally use it and I can’t verify the accuracy of it. So I don’t want to risk the calculations being off and giving the user a bad experience. Thank you for letting me know that the data in the instructions doesn’t change with the recipe size selection. I’ll bring that up with the designer of the recipe card and maybe that can make that adjustment.