Picture this: one giant dark chocolate peanut butter cup, filled with crispy brown rice cereal for a little crunch, topped with flaky sea salt to balance the sweetness of the chocolate, and cut into whatever size squares you’d like to munch on for a snack.
Oh, yeah, and they’re made with 7 simple pantry ingredients in literally 15 minutes flat because I love you and want you to make these for yourself right now, regardless of how well stocked your kitchen is with expensive kitchen gadgets and fancy health food ingredients. All you need to make it happen is a jar of all-natural peanut butter, crispy brown rice cereal, maple syrup, vanilla, salt, a little coconut oil, and lots of dark chocolate. With the exception of the cereal, which I really only buy when I know I want to make a recipe with it, those are all ingredients I keep on hand 365 days of the year.
Clearly I can’t get enough of the dreamy combination of chocolate and peanut butter, so I decided to go straight to the source and make the ultimate peanut butter cup, but in a slightly easier, quicker to make format that happens to check alllll the gluten-free, vegan, no-bake, naturally sweetened, flipping’ delicious boxes.
Chocolate gets melted on the stove (or in the microwave, if you have one), poured into a parchment lined pan, and set in the freezer to firm up while you mix together the peanut butter layer (that tastes 100% like the center bite of the best peanut butter cup, plus a little added crunch from the cereal). The peanut butter layer gets spread over the chocolate base, topped with the rest of the melted chocolate, and popped back into the freezer for a quick 5 minute chill.
All that’s left to do at this point is sprinkle on some flaky sea salt and cut it up into whatever size squares looks right to you- I’ve done both 16 and 24 and love the option of having some larger and some more bite-sized peanut butter cup bars for feeding a crowd.
If you’re a chocolate peanut butter lover, you are going to OBSESS over these bars. They’re literally like one giant Reese’s Egg (those were my favorite growing up because the peanut butter was more reliably creamy/rarely ever dried out, and there was a higher peanut butter to chocolate ratio) but less cloyingly sweet and filled with better quality, simple, wholesome ingredients.
Seriously, I can’t say enough good things about these bars. Make them for your next picnic or potluck, mix them together for a special after-school treat for your kids, send a batch over to a friend or neighbor going through a tough time, or just make a batch to keep in your fridge and snack on all week long because there is literally no wrong time to enjoy the goodness that is chocolate and peanut butter.
If you make this recipe, let me know how it turns out! Leave a comment below, or take a picture of your Crispy Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Bars and share it with me on Instagram so I can see!
Crispy Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Bars
Time: 15 minutes
Yields: 16-24 bars
Ingredients:
- 10 oz dark chocolate chips, or about 2 cups roughly chopped dark chocolate
- 1 teaspoon + 1 Tablespoon virigin coconut oil, divided
- 1 cup creamy, all-natural peanut butter (the kind that’s just peanuts and salt)
- 1 cup crispy brown rice cereal
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- Flaky sea salt, for topping (optional)
Instructions:
- Line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper, and set aside.
- Place chocolate and 1 teaspoon of coconut oil into a small pot on the stove at the lowest possible heat setting. Stir every few minutes, until almost completely melted, then turn off the heat and let the last few pieces of chocolate melt from the residual heat from the pot. Alternately, you can do this in the microwave in 30-second increments, stirring in between, until chocolate is fully melted.
- While chocolate melts, stir together the remaining 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil, peanut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla in a small mixing bowl. Add in the cereal and fine sea salt, and stir well to combine.
- Pour half of the melted chocolate into the bottom of the parchment-lined pan, picking up and tilting the pan to get the chocolate to coat the entire bottom, including the corners. If needed, use a rubber spatula or spoon to help spread the chocolate out in an even layer. Place the pan in the freezer for 2 minutes, or until chocolate is firm.
- Once chocolate layer is firm, dollop the peanut butter mixture on top, and use your fingers (or a spoon) to help press/spread it out into an even layer, being sure to spread all the way into the corners of the pan. Top the peanut butter layer with the remaining melted chocolate, again tilting the pan or spreading with a spoon to get the chocolate to fully coat the peanut butter layer.
- Place the pan back in the freezer for another 5 minutes, or until chocolate on top is set. If desired, sprinkle with a few pinches of flaky sea salt, then use the parchment paper to lift the giant peanut butter cup bar out of the pan and cut into 16-24 bars, or whatever amount looks like the right size bars for snacking!
- Bars can be eaten immediately, or transferred to a sealed container in the fridge for up to 1 week. I prefer the texture of these when they’re closer to room temperature (though they will melt in direct sun or on a very hot day!), so I like to remove them from the fridge at least 15 minutes (and up to a few hours) before serving.