Name: No Bake Peanut Butter Bars
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 24
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs; 1 cup melted unsalted butter; 1 cup creamy peanut butter; 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar; 1 cup milk chocolate chips with 1 tsp. butter (I substitute semi sweet chocolate chips sometimes)

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With only 5 simple ingredients, these No Bake Peanut Butter Bars are the perfect dessert to whip up for a party!

a stack of no bake peanut butter bars served with milk

It’s been a little while since we’ve talked about books in this space, but I’ve actually been reading A LOT lately. I seem to go through spurts where I read like a T-Rex who can’t stop devouring every book in site, and then I hit a dry spell and don’t pick anything up for awhile. Luckily, the last few months I’ve been in full T-Rex mode, and have a few gems to show for it.

Table of Contents

A Thoroughly Midwestern 10 Minute Dessert

A couple months back, I picked up Kitchens of the Great Midwest. The book as a whole was not my favorite, but I really enjoyed the format. Each chapter is named for a food and tells the story of a person who is somehow linked to the main character, Eva Thorvald, a young and brilliant chef who we meet at the beginning of the book.

Traveling around the Midwest, each chapter gives us a glimpse into the foods and people that shaped Eva, including these No Bake Peanut Butter Bars, made by Pat Prager, the epitome of a small town church lady.

Pat’s no bake peanut butter bars won first place at the state fair, but when she decides to submit them to a hoity-toity foodie bake-off, poor Pat finds herself having to defend her spectacularly simple and perfectly unhealthy bars to a slew of “enlightened” eaters.

Ingredients For No Bake Peanut Butter Bars

This particular peanut butter bar recipe contains only five ingredients, including:

Grade A butter (the kind from actual cows!!)
Graham cracker crumbs (the gluten! Have mercy!)
Peanut butter (Pat couldn’t have at least used organic almond butter??)
Powdered sugar (good heavens!)
and chocolate chips (not vegan. THE HORROR!)

I had to chuckle as I read. I have nothing against healthy food, of course, but there’s still something to be said for a good old fashioned dessert like this one. There’s not an ounce of fanciness or pretense here, it’s just an honest to goodness treat. If you love chocolate and peanut butter, this peanut butter bars recipe is going to be your new best friend.

An Easy No Bake Dessert Recipe for Any Occasion

These no bake peanut butter bars are perhaps one of the easiest desserts I’ve ever made. They’re completely no bake, and you can have a batch whipped up and ready to serve in less than 30 minutes. (That’s less time than it takes to a watch an episode of The Good Place. Which I’m loving, by the way).

a hand takes a piece of a no bake peanut butter bar dessert from a stack

These no bake peanut butter bars are also pretty rich, so I like to cut them in small squares, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself reaching back for more than one small square!

Save this recipe for one of those last minute dessert emergencies or put them on the menu for the Super Bowl. They will be a huge hit (as you can see), and, unlike Pat Prager, you won’t have to tell anyone they’re made with only five (very simple) ingredients!

Looking for more no bake desserts? Check out my No Bake Peach Delight, Chocolate Peanut Butter Puppy Chow, Peanut Butter Meringue Pie, or search the no bake archives at thebestdessertrecipes.com.