Easy to make. Easier to eat!
This no-bake recipe comes originally from Nigella Lawson’s baking bible, How to Be a Domestic Goddess. I made a couple of changes to the ingredients, simply to fit the recipe to what I had in the cupboard. More about that below…
Nigella makes the excellent comparison between these and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups/ Reese’s Pieces. For anyone who has no idea what those are, I would say that if you like chocolate and peanut butter then you can’t go wrong with these chocolate peanut butter squares 🙂
Ingredients
For the base:
- 50 g / 2 oz dark muscovado sugar (I used light because it’s what I had. If you use dark, don’t worry if you get dark lumps in your base as a result – that’s fine)
- 200 g / 7 oz icing sugar
- 50 g / 2 oz butter/margarine
- 200 g / 7 oz smooth peanut butter (I used crunchy… see my note below).
A note on crunchy vs. smooth peanut butter: Nigella wisely tells you to use smooth peanut butter. This will give a more moist, uniform consistency to your base. I had crunchy peanut butter which needed using up. However, with solid peanuts taking up some of the weight, there was less “butter” in the base mixture, resulting in a drier, crumblier base (which you’ll see in the photos later). It was by no means a disaster: the base still held together well. But, if you can, use smooth peanut butter!
For the topping:
- 200g / 7 oz milk chocolate
- 100 g / 3.5 oz plain chocolate
- 1 tablespoon butter/ margarine
Method (makes approx. 48 chocolate peanut butter squares)
Line your brownie pan or baking tray with baking paper. My tin measures 24 x 20 x 4 cm. Nigella recommends a 23-cm square brownie tin. So as long as the size of your tin is somewhere in that area, you should be fine.
Put all the base ingredients in a bowl and mix until your have a smooth mixture. I used my electric mixer. If you have a mixer, make sure you remember to use a hood or the icing sugar will go everywhere.
Your base mixture should be “sandy” in appearance. As I note above, thanks to me using crunchy peanut butter, I think my base mixture was a little too dry, but I was still able to put it into my brownie tin and press it down using the back of a spoon to get a firm, even base.
Melt the butter and chocolate together in a bowl. You can do this over a pan of hot water or you can use the microwave to give the mixture short zaps then stir between zaps. I zapped the chocolate for 1 minute, shook it, added the butter and put the whole lot back in for another 30 seconds. I stirred the mixture, encouraging the chocolate to melt into the butter. I gave the mixture another 20 seconds in the microwave and another stir and that got me a smooth, lumpless mixture.
Pour your chocolate mixture on top of your peanut butter base.
Put your chocolate peanut butter slab in the fridge to set. When the chocolate has hardened, lift the slab from the tin and slice it into as many pieces as you want.
If you’d like your chocolate peanut butter squares to look a little more interesting, I’d suggest trailing some melted white chocolate through the chocolate topping while it’s still warm, or drizzling it over the top of the slab when it has set.
But they’re also delicious just so and incredibly easy to make. No baking required!
The next time I’ll make the effort to get smooth peanut butter 🙂
Looking for other no-bake recipes? Try these!
Easy Malteser’s rocky road.
Chocolate honeycomb squares.
I love everything chocolate and peanut butter!
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In that case you have to make these. I don’t even like peanut butter that much but I can’t stop eating them! 🙂
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They look amazing! I have to try this recipe. It’s making my stomach rumble. Thanks for sharing! 🤗
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Oh my goodness! These look delicious 🙂
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They’re very nice. And very moreish. I just wish I’d had smooth peanut butter in the cupboard. Next time! 🙂
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Oh no… More pounds to put on! ☺☺
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That’s what my husband said! haha! But I’m doing my best to help him out by eating as many of them as I can 🙂
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Lol… I can imagine you husband is torn in loving you and yet your amazing baking not being good for his health lol
That’s quite a sacrifice. You can send some my way 😜
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Claire, That was our best seller at our store Cupcake Cache while we were open. My husband came up with it….peanut butter cup and it was a stuffed cupcake with nutella and peanut butter inside and then a swirled peanut butter frosting…with a glass of milk. Delicious. Our facebook site is still up and you can see all our creations. We were going to publish a book of recipes but never did that. I guess there is time.
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You should definitely still publish a collection of all your recipes 🙂
Wow! That stuffed cupcake sounds amazing. You would certainly need the glass of milk with it!
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Yes, we have to find the right publisher. I agree. My husband is very talented with the graphics….I think it will be a great project. We just need to find the right publisher. Oh, no I am getting hungry!
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I was just thinking it must soon be time for dinner here – haha!
You could also self-publish, particularly if you husband is good with graphics (that’s the bit I wouldn’t be very good at!).
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Another yummy heaven 🙂
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I’m not the greatest fan of peanut butter, so I’ve been very pleasantly surprised with just how tasty these are! 🙂
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Ah just the sight of them made me salivate,peanut buttor or not! XD
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I have actually made this!! Yes I know…me!!! And they are absolutely to die for! I do prefer cakes that you don’t bake and these are a favourite with the family along with my Tunnucks Teacake tray bake where there is a weeks calories in one square lol xx
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Lol! I did calculate the calories per square in this one too, but it was shocking and I’ve now eaten so many I don’t want to think about it 🙂
I just didn’t feel like baking this week. We’ve still got cake sitting about and the plan was to make something that could be stored to eat at a later date… well, that one’s not working. I’ve eaten nearly half the tray of the darn things and I don’t even like peanut butter that much!
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I don’t know what it is about the combination of chocolate and peanut butter that makes it irresistible! Enjoy! x
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These look so good! I’m definitely bookmarking this recipe. I usually end up bringing dessert to family gatherings at Thanksgiving/Christmas, so I might have to try making these this year. 🙂
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You will be very popular if you bring these and you can pretend they’re much easier to make than they are! Plus, if you can find red and green sugar sprinkles, you could put those on top to make them more festive 🙂
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Ooh, that’s a great idea!
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Yum!! I will definitely have to try sometime! These sound delicious!
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They are lovely and so easy to make. I’ll be making them again soon… this time with smooth peanut butter 🙂
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Mouth-watering!If I had such cooking/baking skills,I’d cook all the time.This looks so delicious!
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Thank you! This one is is a nice, easy one 🙂 I never go for anything too complicated in case it goes wrong!
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These recipes always make me hungry 🙂
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Thank you 🙂 These were very yummy and we finished them yesterday!
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You’re welcome! Yum. I bet your house always smells delicious 😀
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*stomach rumbles, mouth waters*.
PEANUT BUTTER + CHOCOLATE = BEST COMBO EVER!
These are amazing, I HAVE to make these!
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It is! I’m not really a fan of peanut butter, but team it up with chocolate and it is SO addictive 🙂
And these are ridiculously easy to make as well. No baking!
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Well if they’re addictive, I’ll make them but be sure to control my self *goes grabs all the ingredients and starts making them and eating them like a fat pig* I’m very responsible (the whole plate is clean, no evidence)Thanks for sharing!
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Delicious and easy! Looks great.
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They are lovely. And I say that as someone who doesn’t really like peanut butter! For some reason the chocolate and peanut butter combination is delicious 🙂
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