Peanut Butter Bars in a Jar Recipe

One of my favorite holiday Recipes to make is Peanut Butter Bars. I recently bought a bunch of jelly-size mason jars because they are, well, super cute, and fun to make recipes in for my friends and family. I love baking with Peanut Butter and chocolate and adding in Graham Crackers just makes it perfect and crunchy. If you are looking for a fun and easy recipe to make for your family and friends this Holiday Season – then make these yummy Peanut Butter Bars in a Jar. 

Doesn’t that look heavenly? I am eating it right now as I sit here and write this post. The 20 minutes I spent making these was well worth it. I am going to have to give most of them away or I will end up having to spend more time on than off my elliptical 😉 lol.

Once I got them home, I got a bag of chocolate chips, vanilla extract, butter, and powdered sugar. That’s it! This is a super easy and delicious recipe for Peanut Butter Bars in Jar. I measured out the chocolate chips into a glass cup, the powdered sugar, and butter, and then used the same Adjustable Measuring Cup to measure the peanut butter.

To get the Graham Crackers into crumbs I used a mini food processor and ground them about 2/3 of a package at a time. Overall I ended up using about 3 1/2 cups of Graham Cracker crumbs.

You will want to put the butter (1 1/2 cups)  into a microwave-safe dish and melt it  (about 25 seconds). Then add 1 cup of peanut butter, 1 3/4 cups of powdered sugar, and 1 tsp. of Vanilla (I used Vanilla extract, but you can use imitation). Once you have them all in a bowl, get out your hand mixer (or muscles) and mix until well blended.

Once you have a creamy mixture (the lumps are the peanuts from the peanut butter, that is why I used chunky) then you will want to start adding your Graham Cracker Crumbs. Add about a cup at a time and mix it together so it doesn’t get all ‘globby’.

As you add the crumbs, it will start to thicken and become stiff. If it is a little gooey still, add some more crumbs (about 1/2 cup at a time). I added one extra to my batch and it turned out perfect.

Once you have it mixed, you will want to take and put a layer in the bottom of your jars. I filled mine out 2/3 of the way full. These are great for many different occasions, like parties, gifts, or just for fun. The size is perfect for kids but there is enough in there to even satisfy an adult.

I did some in the jars and some in a pan. They both turned out amazing.

I forgot to photograph it, but I added about 1/4 cup of Peanut Butter to the bag of chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl (you can use the same one as you did for the butter) and microwaved the chocolate and peanut butter mixture for about 30 seconds at a time stirring in between each time you heat it. It only took two turns in the microwave for it to be melted good enough then I just stirred it to blend it.

Once the Chocolate is melted you will want to add a layer to the top of the mixture in each jar. I added coconut, and crushed peppermints, and Kisses the tops of some of them (individually). 

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 24-28 jars

Serving Size: 1 “jelly size” mason jar

Ingredients:

• For Peanut Mixture:
• 1 3/4 cups of powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 cups of margarine or butter – melted
• 1 cup of peanut butter (I used chunky because I like the peanuts in the bars)
• 1 tsp of Vanilla (imitation or extract)
• 3-4 cups of Graham Cracker Crumbs (about 40-50 squares)

• For Chocolate Topping:
• 1 12 oz package of Chocolate Chips (about 2 cups)
• 1/4-1/2 cup of Peanut Butter (I used chunky because I like the peanuts in the bars)

Instructions

• Get out several Mason Jars (I used the small “Jelly” size ones).
• To make the graham cracker crumbs, I just added squares to a mini food processor and let it chop them for me. I would do this first after you get all of your ingredients out.
• In a large bowl mix the sugar, margarine, 1 cup of peanut butter, and vanilla with a hand mixer until well blended.
• Stir in the Graham Crackers crumbs about a cup at a time until the mixture thickens up and becomes stiff.
• Scoop spoonfuls of the mixture into each jar, adding at least 2/3 of the way full.
• Put 2 cups (about 1 bag) of Chocolate Chips and 1/4-1/2 cup of Peanut Butter into a microwave-safe container (you can use the same one you used to melt the butter) and microwave the chocolate and peanut butter mixture for about 30 seconds at a time stirring in between each time you heat it. It only took two turns in the microwave for it to be melted good enough then I just stirred it to blend it.
• Pour over the peanut butter mixture and smooth the surface. If you would like to add extra toppings like shredded coconut, caramel, crushed candy cane, etc you can add those to the top of the chocolate now.
• Put into refrigerator and let chill for 1-3 hours.

Enjoy and Savor each bite. YUM!

Other recipes:

Meat, Bean and Cheese Chimichangas Recipe

Sauteed Mushroom and Onion Dip Recipe