No Bake Peanut Butter Bars

There once was a time where I feared peanut butter. I believed I couldn’t trust myself to keep peanut butter in my home, so I avoided it all together. Only to find myself overeating and binging on something sweet.

It wasn’t until I started honoring my hunger and making sure that I ate enough food during the day that I no longer felt called to late night cravings.

I first started giving myself permission to eat peanut butter in desserts. It wasn’t easy at first and there were times when I ate more than I wanted. But that was ok. This was a small step in starting to trust and believe in myself.

I would check in and see how the peanut butter dessert tasted. Did it taste as good as I always imagined it? If it was something I enjoyed, I would come back to it again.

Over the last four years, I’ve tried a lot of dessert recipes and checked in on how they made me feel. And my friends, these no bake peanut butter bars are incredible. They have just the right amount of chocolate and peanut butter that will excite your taste buds. The melted coconut oil and cocoa powder are the secret ingredients that make this a 5 star recipe!

The first step for these no bake peanut butter bars is to line a baking dish with parchment paper. I used an 8×6 Pyrex dish. Any 8×8 pan or rectangular dish works well. You want to make sure you have some parchment paper overhang. This will make it easy to later cut our no bake peanut butter bars.

In a mixing bowl, combine all the crust ingredients and give it a stir. You’re looking for a dough like consistency where the ingredients all stick together.

Press the chocolate dough with a spatula or back of a spoon into the bottom of the lined baking dish. This will form our crust. Transfer to the freezer to let this set.

For the peanut butter layer, combine all of the peanut butter ingredients to a mixing bowl. Then, take the baking dish from the freezer and add the peanut butter mixture. Use a spatula to spread the peanut butter filling on top of the crust. Place the baking dish in the freezer again.

For the chocolate topping, add the cocoa powder, melted coconut oil, and honey. You’ll want the honey or maple syrup at room temperature, so that it is easier to combine with the other ingredients.

After the chocolate mixture becomes a chocolate sauce consistency, pour on top of the peanut butter layer. Place the baking dish back in the freezer for another hour. The waiting may be the hardest part of this recipe as the bars just look so good.

When ready to serve, take the baking dish from the freezer and lift the no bake peanut butter bars out by using the parchment overhang. Use a big knife and slice into bars.

These no bake peanut butter bars taste best chilled. I like to let them sit out for 2 minutes before biting into the bar. Note that these bars will melt if they are sitting out too long.

If you love the peanut butter and chocolate combo, check out my chocolate peanut butter smoothie. The flavors go together brilliantly!