Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispy Bars

These chocolate crispy bars are a modern, abstract rendition of scotcheroos—the treats printed on Rice Krispies boxes in the 1960s. If you squint a little bit, the pecans might remind you of butterscotch.

You could call these sort-of scotcheroos, or mostly-naturally-sweetened scotcheroos, or just plain delicious. Somehow, I landed on Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispy Bars.

I always get a hankering for Reese’s peanut butter eggs around Easter time. They’re my favorite. This crispy-crackly, honey-sweetened, peanut butter-and-chocolate recipe is fully satisfying my Reese’s craving.

These no-bake treats are easy to make, and they’re ready after a two-hour rest in the refrigerator. If you have a box of brown rice crisps (or Rice Krispies, for that matter), you’re in luck!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispy Bar Ingredients

You’ll only need 5 ingredients to make this simple recipe:

Brown rice crisps (found in the cereal aisle)
Pecans (or another nut, or none at all)
Creamy peanut butter (or almond butter or sunbutter)
Honey (or maple syrup)
One 9-ounce bag of chocolate chips (at your preferred sweetness level—I used semisweet)

I top my bars with a light sprinkle of flaky sea salt (or kosher salt) for some irresistible, salty crunch!

Craving some more pantry-friendly treats? Try one of these:

If you own my cookbook, Love Real Food, try the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (page 203) or Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (page 204).

Please let me know how your bars turn out in the comments! I hope they brighten your day.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispy Bars

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Author: Cookie and Kate
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes (plus 2 hour chill time)
Yield: 16 treats 1x
Category: Dessert
Method: No Bake
Cuisine: American
Diet: Gluten Free

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4.9 from 69 reviews

These chocolate peanut butter crispy bars are like modern-day scotcheroos! This recipe is easy to make with wholesome pantry ingredients, and it’s naturally sweetened with honey instead of corn syrup. Keep in mind that these no-bake treats require 2 hours in the refrigerator to set. Recipe yields 16 small treats from one 8-inch square pan (or double the recipe to fill a 9 by 13-inch pan).

Scale

Ingredients

3 cups brown rice crisps*
1 ¼ cups whole pecans, chopped, divided
¾ cup creamy peanut butter (plus a pinch of salt if your peanut butter is unsalted)
½ cup honey
1 ½ cups (9 ounces) chocolate chips*
½ teaspoon flaky sea salt or ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

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Instructions

Line an 8-inch square baking dish with a strip of parchment paper, cut to fit neatly across the base and up opposite sides. In a large mixing bowl, combine the brown rice crisps and 1 cup of the chopped pecans (reserve the rest for sprinkling on top). Set both aside.
In a medium saucepan, combine the peanut butter and honey. Warm the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring often, until it’s steaming or you catch a bubble or two forming on the bottom, about 5 minutes. (We don’t want this mixture to come to a boil or the peanut butter could scorch.)
Pour the warm mixture into the bowl of rice crisps. Using a rubber or silicone spatula, stir until the mixture is completely combined. Transfer it all to the lined baking dish. Press down with the spatula to spread it fairly evenly, then switch to a large, sturdy glass with a flat bottom (maybe a working jar or mason jar or what-have-you) and press down firmly all over, including the corners. You really want to pack it down (it’s ok if you hear some crunching noises). Lastly, use your hands to ensure that it’s evenly compacted.
Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl in 30-second increments, stirring after each one. Don’t overdo it. The chocolate is done when it’s about 90% melted—keep stirring off the heat and the pieces should completely dissolve. (Alternately, you can use melt it in a heat-proof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water.)
Pour the melted chocolate over the peanut butter-crispy mixture. Use a clean spatula to spread it evenly all over. Make some pretty chocolate swooshes if you’d like. Sprinkle the remaining pecans on top, followed by the salt.
Place the baking dish in the refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours, or up to a day. To slice, carefully grab both sides of the parchment paper and lift it out of the baking dish. Use a sharp chef’s knife to make 4 even columns and 4 even rows—to minimize the risk of cracking the chocolate, carefully apply even pressure from above the knife to press straight down, rather than sawing from one edge across.
These bars will keep well at room temperature for up to 1 week, or for several months in the freezer. Store in an air-tight container either way.

Notes

*Ingredient notes: I used Whole Foods 365 brand of brown rice crisps (found in the cereal aisle) and Guittard’s 46% semisweet chocolate chips. I usually love dark chocolate, so I was surprised that bittersweet chocolate seemed a bit too intense here.

Make it gluten free: Double-check that your ingredients are certified gluten free.

Make it dairy free: Use dairy-free chocolate chips, such as Enjoy Life brand.

Make it vegan: Use dairy-free chocolate chips, such as Enjoy Life brand, and substitute maple syrup for the honey.

Make it nut free: While I haven’t tried, I believe you could substitute sunflower seed butter for the peanut butter, and omit the pecans.

Change it up: You could substitute maple syrup for the honey, substitute another type of nut for the pecans, or omit them altogether. You could also use almond butter or even pecan butter instead of peanut butter. If you love salty chocolate, you could double the amount of salt provided.

▸ Nutrition Information

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.

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