Reese S Peanut Butter Bars No Bake

Ingredient Notes

Graham Crackers – Do you seem to always have an opened package of graham crackers that are a little stale? Those will work just as well as fresh ones here! Peanut Butter – Smooth or creamy peanut butter both work here, but this recipe is written with standard peanut butter in mind, not natural peanut butter which has a different texture. Shortening – a small amount of vegetable shortening is melted into chocolate chips for the topping. The shortening prevents the chocolate from hardening completely. I love a tip from one of our readers- if you’d like to leave the shortening out, replace it with a spoon of peanut butter. The topping will stay soft this way and as a bonus you get some more peanut buttery goodness! Butter – Use real (salted) butter here!

How To Make Reese’s Peanut Butter Bars

Let’s do it in slow motion just for dramatic effect. There it goes… That’s the good stuff right there. Now spread it out nice and smooth and pop that pan in the fridge. The trick is to let the bars chill until the chocolate is just set so it’s still easy to cut. Otherwise you get a soft bottom and a really hard top, so you just smash everything. However, if you happen to let it chill all the way, it’s not the end of the world, I actually did that with this batch pictured. The trick then is to use a sharp serrated knife and score the cuts a few times until you cut all the way through. It works great! Once the bars are cut, they can go back into the fridge to set all the way. Or you can just eat them. You’ll probably want to just eat them.

Serving Suggestions

Are you craving peanut butter? You might like these other recipes!

Peanut Butter and Jam Cookie Bars Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies Chocolate-Frosted Peanut butter Cookie Bars Giant Loaded Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies Big Giant Peanut butter Cookie

Want to provide guests a peanut-free alternative to these for an event? Check out these other fantastic dessert bars from Our Best Bites:

Oatmeal M&M Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars with Fluffy Buttercream Frosting Raspberry-Almond Cookie Bars Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars Lime Bars with Coconut Shortbread Crust Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars

Can I use dairy free substitutes/ natural peanut butter/ gluten free graham crackers? I get these questions a lot! This is one recipe that has not been tested with alternative ingredients. As noted above, traditional peanut butter probably works best texture-wise over natural peanut butter. Gluten free graham crackers will likely be ok if you want to give them a try. As for dairy substitutions, your best bet is to use a butter substitute that has a similar fat content and texture to butter. Coconut oil often works well, but you will need to add an extra pinch of salt and possibly a few drops of butter flavoring. If you try any substitutions, let me know how they work out so I can update this post for others! Can I use an alternative to peanut butter? Short answer: you could. Longer answer: In general, I have found that recipes that rely heavily on peanut butter are just not the same when other nut butters are used as a substitute. Your best bet would be to choose a recipe that was specifically written using a different nut butter, or to take a look at the Serving Suggestions section above for a list of other delicious peanut-free bars from Our Best Bites!