No Bake Peanut Butter Bars
Inspiration is a fickle beast.
I've been writing this blog for so long, I don't actually know how long it's been, but I'm guessing it's a decade or so.
Certainly my participation has waxed and waned. There have been times when I generated 5 blog posts per week (and it nearly killed me), and there have been plenty of times where I took a break and generated nothing at all!
After doing this for so long, sometimes I feel really stretched for content ideas. Not that, in the world of food, there is ever any lack of subject matter. There's always another recipe to make.
The inspiration for this recipe for No Bake Peanut Butter Bars came from salt. I know! It sounds weird... but I got a bag of flavoured salt for Christmas from my friend Vicki and immediately my mind started working out what I could do with it. If it was savoury salt, I would have just thrown it into pasta or whatever, but it's a salted caramel salt from Vancouver Island, and I knew it needed to go into a dessert.
I also had a few bits and bobs of things around, but not really enough for a full recipe of one thing, so I combined a few things and voila! Delicious success.
These No Bake Peanut Butter Bars are perfect for when you're feeling a bit lazy. It's also easy to do a vegan or gluten free version of this recipe (or even a vegan gluten free version!).
It's a riff on a recipe that has been on of my favourites and that I've been making for years, just juzzed up a bit. They kinda taste like a Resses Peanut Butter Cup, but with a crunchier texture. Enjoy.
No Bake Peanut Butter Bars
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter vegan butter alternate
- 3/4 cup peanut butter
- 1 cup graham cracker crumbs alternate: vegan gluten free graham crackers, I use Kinnikinnick S'moreables Gluten Free Graham Crackers
- 1/2 cup corn flakes
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup chocolate dark vegan chocolate or non vegan chocolate chips
- milk non dairy vegan alternative
- finishing salt
Instructions
- In a small pot over medium heat, place the butter, and melt it. Then add in the peanut butter and the sugar and stir everything well until it's all melted together.
- In a large bowl, place your graham cracker crumbs and corn flakes.
- Remove the butter/peanut butter/sugar mixture from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
- Pour the entire contents over the graham crackers and corn flakes. Stir well to combine.
- Press the mixture into an 8"x8" pan, then place in the refrigerator for at least an hour to set.
- Melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Once the chocolate is melted, add a little milk, a few tablespoons at a time, until it gets to a pourable consistency. (this is the tricky part--I can't give you real measurements here, you have to kinda wing it). Pour the chocolate over the peanut butter base and sprinkle the whole thing with a pinch or two of finishing salt. Place in the fridge to set.
- Cut into 12-16 squares.
- This bar tastes great frozen. Store in the freezer and pull one out 5 minutes before eating.