These Reese’s peanut Butter Bars only take a few ingredients and you don’t even have to bake them. The best part? They taste just like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Seriously, they’ll make you swoon.

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

Start with some crushed graham crackers. If you’re like me and find half-eaten packs in the back of your pantry that are too stale for eating, they work great.
Then in goes powdered sugar and some peanut butter. Chunky or smooth peanut butter will work, but I think smooth is better.
And just in case something made out of powdered sugar, graham crackers and peanut butter isn’t good enough, let’s add a bunch of melted butter. To be on the safe side.
Next, press it into a pan. Line it with something (parchment, foil, waxed paper) to make your life easier a couple hours from now.
Set that aside and get out some chocolate chips. Melt them in the microwave with a bit of shortening to make it easier to work with. *Tip: Love this tip from one you readers! Instead of adding shortening to the chocolate topping, add a scoop of peanut butter. That will prevent the top from getting solid and it will taste yummy!
Keep melting until it’s nice and smooth
And then dump it on top of the peanut butter mixture.

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!

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

FAQs

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!

Did You Make This?

I’d love to hear from you! Snap a picture and tag me on Instagram, and then come back and give this recipe a rating!