Dessert Series, Part 1 - No-Cook Peanut Butter Bars

The weather has been cold and snowy. And on the rare day that it's not either of those things, it's slushy and/or raining. This winter is quickly moving towards the snowiest on record for Philadelphia. We all have our habits during the winter. Some people cook comfort foods like stew and chili. Some people get caught up on all of that reading that never happens when you're busy. Me?  I bake. Cooking has never been for me (I'm not THAT grown up yet!) I don't like raw food or the cleanup that is required after conjuring up a delicious meal. However, I do love chocolate, confectioners sugar, sugar cookies and sprinkles. Therefore, I'm going to dedicate the next few blogs to the chronicles of my baking adventure.  I've even changed my blog "theme" to something that more reminds me of a bakery!

Today: No-Bake Peanut Butter Bars

A few weeks ago in my perusal of Pinterest (hello, obsession!!) I came across this recipe from Bakerlady (www.mybakerlady.com).

Side note:  I'm pretty excited to have come across this blog for a few reasons:  A) the recipes look amazing and B) She's quite hilarious. If she ever reads this blog, she should know that I'd like to erect a monument of her in the town square. 

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen...

This recipe looks amazing (see picture below) and fits all of my criteria for baking - minimal, easy to find ingredients, minimal prep time and little to no cooking time. 

Don't they look amazing??!!  I think that it's important to see what the dessert is actually supposed to look like just in case you decide to attempt any of these things at home. Nothing that I make ever looks exactly like it is supposed to, usually because I change 

ingredients based on what's currently in my kitchen. 

So the first step in this recipe (credit to Let's Dish) is graham cracker crumbs. Now, living in the city doesn't easily allow for a quick trip to the supermarket for a box of graham cracker crumbs. Enter the basic blender and a new box of Honey Maid graham crackers. Things I learned: 

1. Using both the 'crumb' function and the 'purée' function will break down the graham crackers into the perfect crumbs for this recipe.
2. It's better to add a few crackers at a time than to put the entire sleeve in at once.
3. Two full sleeves of graham crackers equals two cups of crumbed crackers - exactly 
4. what the recipe calls for. 
5. You'll need to break up a few lingering pieces with your fingers once you pour the crumbs out of the blender. Using a quart sized zip-lock bag as a mitten of sorts, you can crush those few last pieces. 

To the graham cracker crumbs you'll need to add a cup of melted butter (easily achieved by a few seconds in the microwave), a cup of creamy peanut butter and two cups of confectioners sugar. Whew. Sugar, sugar and more sugar. Usually I try to find healthier substitutes for these items but with this recipe I needed the binding agents that these ingredients provide. It takes a little bit of time to mix everything into the foundation for the cookie bars BUT once this is finished, you're more than halfway done!  This recipe is super simple. Take the graham cracker mixture and press it into a 13x9" pan. An 11x7" pan will work as well; as expected the smaller the pan, the thicker the bars will be. 

The final steps include mixing 11/2 cups of chocolate chips with four tablespoons of peanut butter and melting the combination. Again, a few seconds and constant stirring will result in a delectable "frosting" to be spread on top of the crackers. My chocolate chips of choice are actually 365 from Whole Foods, but certainly anything will work. In full disclosure, last night's mixture included the aforementioned, Nestle chocolate chips and some miniature Hershey's chocolate bars. It was a matter of supply versus demand but worked out perfectly fine. I like to consider it a chocolate salad!  

Once you spread the chocolate sauce onto the top of the cracker mixture, you're done!  An hour in the refrigerator and it's ready to eat!  And just in case you didn't already think that is would be the best thing to ever touch your taste buds, let me be the first to confirm that it is heavenly.  Below is the photo of my finished product. While I'm not exactly the best at cutting straight lines, and hence a few jagged edges, I must say that things don't look all that bad!!  Yay me!!

I must say again just how easy this recipe was to make. It's a perfect rainy day activity with kids and, in my case, a wonderful way to delight the man-friend. It's perfect for parties, easy to transport and likely would have some staying power in the heat of a summer picnic. I can say that I've found a new recipe to add to my regular baking rotation. I can't wait to hear what you think!!