Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars combine peanut butter cookies with the flavors of Reese's peanut butter cups in an easy, almost no-bake recipe
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 15 minutesminutes
Servings 15cookie bars
Ingredients
Cookie Crust
½Cbuttermelted
¼Cpeanut buttercrunchy or creamy
2Tbbrown sugar
1.5Call purpose flour
½tspkosher salt
Peanut Butter Filling
¾Cbutterroom temperature
¾Cpeanut buttercrunchy or creamy
1Cpowdered sugarsift
½tspkosher salt
2tspvanilla extract
Chocolate Topping
1Csemi-sweet chocolate chips
6Tbbutterroom temperature
Flaky Sea Salt*
Instructions
To make the crust
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9" x 13" baking pan with nonstick spray.
Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Spread the dough out in the prepared baking dish using your hands to form an even smooth layer. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.
Let the crust cool completely before topping with the peanut butter filling.
To make the filling
Place all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and whip with a hand mixer or whisk until smooth, creamy and slightly aerated.
To make the topping
Place the chocolate chips and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in for 30 seconds, stir, and then microwave in 15-second increments, stirring between each one. Microwave until the butter and chocolate are totally combined and the texture is smooth.
Allow the chocolate to cool to room temperature before pouring over filling.
To assemble the bars
Top the pre-baked and cooled crust with the peanut butter topping. Spread evenly over the crust. Once the topping is cooled, pour over the filling and spread into an even layer. Finish with a healthy sprinkling of sea salt.
Cover the baking dish with plastic wrap. Chill the bars for at least two hours before cutting with a sharp knife. Store in the fridge for up to a week.
Notes
*Fleur de Sel is my favorite finishing salt for sweets, but any light and flaky sea salt will work. You can use kosher salt, but go easy with the amount as the flavor is much stronger than delicate salts like Fleur de Sel.