Making Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Bars with Teddie Peanut Butter

For chocolate and peanut butter lovers, this recipe is the end-all-be-all. We really don't need anything more. Just peanut butter and chocolate.  Keep it simple, as I always say...

Creamy Peanut Butter and Rich Milk Chocolate:  Two Great Tastes that Taste Great Together

My husband doesn't buy me flowers--too often--he buys me Buckie's---our favorite local bakery---Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars.  If you saw us playing hooky the other day On the Slopes with Fox 25 at Mount Sunapee, you may have noticed we won two jars of Teddie Peanut Butter--made in Massachusetts!  You can watch the video here:  On the Slopes at Mount Sunapee with the peanut gallery! We really were thrilled to win Teddie Peanut Butter because I am a peanut butter purist, a holy-roller for buying ONLY peanut butter without added sugar, and Teddie Peanut Butter fits the bill.  Teddie has just two ingredients: Roasted Peanuts and Salt.  Amen.



We made a decision, as a family, that we had no other choice but to dedicate one of the jars of Teddie Peanut Butter to a batch of our beloved Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars.  I was planning on using my favorite Ghiradelli Chocolate Chips, but upon further inspection of my pantry, I noticed a bag brimming with Milk Chocolate Candy Melts, the ones you use for fondue or in chocolate fountains.   It was a choice we've come to rejoice.  Hallelujah.

 

You can make this recipe without an oven in sight.  Just crush 2 packs of graham crackers, melt 2 sticks of butter, sift in 2 cups of confectioner's sugar, blend in 1 cup of peanut butter, and away you go.

It's helpful to make a sling out of parchment paper to line your 9 x 13 pan before pressing your peanut butter mixture into the bottom.  Later, you can just grab the sling and lift the bars out of the pan.  Melt your chocolate using a double boiler or microwave it in 30 second intervals.  I used a stainless steel bowl over a simmering pot of water- worked like a dream.  Once your chocolate is melted to perfection, gracefully spread it across the peanut butter.  :)
*Do not attempt to operate heavy machinery after enjoying one of these bars.  ;)

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Ingredients

1 cup butter, melted

2 packages (a little more than 2 cups) Graham Cracker crumbs

2 cups confectioner's sugar

1 cup old fashioned peanut butter (and a bit more to add to the chocolate)

2 - 3 cups chocolate chips or melts

Directions

1.  In a large bowl-I used my KitchenAid for this recipe, combine melted butter and crushed Graham Crackers.

2.  Sift in confectioner's sugar and blend well.  Mix in peanut butter.

3.  Using parchment paper, create a 'sling' by lining a 9x13 pan so that the paper hangs out over the sides a few inches.

4.  Press mixture into bottom of pan.

5.  Melt chocolates in a stainless steel bowl over a sauce pan filled with simmering water.

6.  If you're using chocolate chips, add a heaping scoop of peanut butter to the melting chocolate.

7.  Spread chocolate across the peanut butter mixture.

8.  Cover and refrigerate for at least a half hour, then cut into squares.