No-bake Peanut Butter Squares

Have you ever eaten a Reese's Cup, only to wish you could buy them in a proper adult serving instead of tiny little circles? Or wished you could eat a whole pan of them by yourself? Then have I got a treat for you!

Ingredients

3½ Cups JiF creamy peanut butter

4¾ Cups Powdered sugar

½ Cup Light brown sugar

½ Tbsp Vanilla extract

1 bag (11 oz) Milk chocolate chips

Instructions

Line a 13x9 pan with parchment or waxed paper.

Mix PEANUT BUTTER, POWDERED SUGAR, BROWN SUGAR and VANILLA using dough hooks

Mix with dough hooks until 2 different layers form. You'll have a crumbly dry layer resembling a smashed Mexican mazapan under a moist sticky layer.

At this point you can toss the dough with a spatula to bring the crumbly layer to the top and continue to mix with dough hooks, or finish the mixing by kneading with your hands. Either way, continue mixing until the peanut butter mixture has a smooth and even consistency.

Press into your lined pan, being sure to press into corners, and press the top smooth. A plastic glove or ziploc bag sprayed with nonstick cooking spray makes this go MUCH faster.

Move the pan into your refrigerator for 20 minutes.

Melt your CHOCOLATE CHIPS in a microwave safe pan or bowl, stirring every 20 seconds, until they're ALMOST all melted. Stop microwaving and give it a good stir when it looks *mostly* melted. The heat in your bowl will melt the chips the rest of the way, and you don't run the risk of burning your chips (which happens easier than you'd think).

Pour the chocolate over the chilled peanut butter layer and spread to the edges. Move pan back into refrigerator.

Chill pan in refrigerator 10-25 minutes, checking consistency of the chocolate every 5 minutes. You're looking for the consistency like a soft fondant or modeling clay.

Try cutting the bars while they're too soft and the chocolate just forms back together into a solid layer. Try cutting when the chocolate has cooled too much and it will crack like the 3rd bar in the bottom row (see picture below).

Cut as big, or as small as you'd like. And remember that if you cut smaller squares you can eat twice as many!

Store in fridge up to one week (they'll never last a week)

Tips and add-ons

Milk chocolate chips delivery a finished product that tastes like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. But white or butterscotch chips also make a delicious topping.

You can make the peanut butter mixture thicker by using even more powdered sugar, or by mixing in crushed Graham cracker crumbs or Rice Kristin's.

Making these in "bar" form is my go-to version of the recipe. But you can also roll the peanut butter mixture into balls or roll it out and cut it with cookie cutters. Chill on a lined pan before dipping in melted chocolate and returning to the lined pan to chill in refrigerator until chocolate is set.

Roll into egg shapes and dip into colored candy-coating mix for Easter.

While chocolate is still melty, top with M&M Minis, Reese Pieces, sprinkles, or crushed Oreos.