No-Bake Peanut Butter S’mores Bars

I’m usually not an impulse shopper. I always take a list to the grocery store and would rather wait to buy a book on sale at Amazon than pay the full price at a Barnes & Nobles. Hell, I’m so cheap I’m waiting for The Social Network to play on TBS to see it. But I have my weaknesses.

Dandies brand vegan marshmallows were on sale at Whole Foods and I threw them in my cart out of habit. How could I not? They were a dollar off. Never mind that I don’t care for regular marshmallows—it was a bargain.

When I asked Twitter what to do with marshmallows, a resounding number of people said s’mores. Now, I’m not the biggest s’more fan(shocking, I know), but add peanut butter and I wouldn’t complain. Slowly but surely that lead to these bars, which are about as rich and sweet as you can imagine a dessert to be. Besides being incredibly delicious, they’re no-bake and took me about 20 minutes from start to finish. So put on a fire, make some hot cocoa, and start baking(or not).

No-Bake Peanut Butter S’mores Bars

For the crust:

• 16 graham crackers or 8oz graham crackers crumbs
• 3 tablespoons butter(or non-dairy alternative such as Earth Balance)
• 6 tablespoons natural style peanut butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

For the filling:

• 1/3 cup natural style peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons butter(or non-dairy alternative such as Earth Balance)
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup mini-marshmallows, or 1 cup regular marshmallows cut into bite-sized pieces

For the top:

• 6oz(about 3/4 cup) chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon butter(or non-dairy alternative such as Earth Balance)

Melt together the butter and peanut butter until it’s thin and creamy.

Break the graham crackers to coarse crumbs. You might want to use a food process for this. In a large bowl, add the peanut butter mixture to the graham cracker crumbs and sift in the powdered sugar. Work the dough until the ingredients have come together and press it into an 8×8 pan.

To make the filling, melt together the peanut butter and butter again. Sift in the powdered sugar, and pour the mixture over your crust. Spread it out to cover all parts. Next, press in the marshmallows over all parts of the filling.

Lastly, for the top, melt together the chocolate chips and butter. Pour it on top of the dessert in an even layer. The less you have to spread it to cover all parts, the better. Put this in the refrigerator to harden. Cut cold and serve at room temperature for best results.

This is everything a dessert should be: rich, sweet, chocolate and peanut butter. It’s really hard not to want to eat the whole pan. You can use different brands of graham crackers to make it gluten-free and/or vegan depending on who you’re making these for. And no one will leave disappointed.