Last updated on October 25th, 2024

These Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars are a homemade, all-natural no-bake confection with a layer of creamy, sweet peanut butter topped with chocolate. This recipe can be known by other names like “peanut butter buckeye bars”, “lunch-lady peanut butter bars,” or “no-bake peanut butter bars.”

Vintage inspiration: from my grandmother’s wooden box of hand-typed recipes.

How to make Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

graham crackers:

Crush your own graham crackers fresh instead of buying them in a pre-ground box so they taste fresh. I use the Nabisco brand which doesn’t have as many artificial flavor or high fructose corn syrup. If you need these to be gluten-free use gluten-free graham crackers or I’ve used crushed Rice Krispies .

chocolate:

The recipe calls for semi-sweet chocolate chips, but depending on how you sweet or dark you like your chocolate you can use milk or dark chocolate chips. I use a combination of natural semi-sweet and milk and do not contain artificial ingredients.

peanut butter:

Use a combination of chunky and creamy peanut butter to give a little more texture into the base. Be sure to use an-all natural peanut butter that doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup. You can easily make your own homemade peanut butter from fresh roasted, salted peanuts in which you just place in food processor and blend until creamy.

how to melt chocolate chips

The easiest way to melt chocolate chips is in the microwave by placing half of the chocolate into a glass bowl and microwave for 30-seconds. Then add an additional half of the chocolate and continue to melt in 30-second increments until it is all melted and smooth.

EQUIPMENT

Always use a light-colored, aluminum cookie sheet. I use Nordic Ware aluminum, 18×13 half-sheet pans lined with parchment paper. Aluminum is best for distributing and reflecting even heat during the baking process. Dark cookie sheets conduct more heat across the surface, which could cause your baked goods to burn or darken on the edges before they are fully cooked.