Marsha's/Betty Crocker's No-Bake Chocolate-Peanut Butter Candy Bars

These "cookies" are so yummy that everyone in Scott's car pool who has tasted them has requested the recipe.  The original recipe is from the Betty Crocker website (click here), but I (as always) have changed things up a bit to make them my own.  The peanut butter part is fudge-y and delicious, and the cookie crust is tender and rich.  I love the crunch of the granola in contrast to the smooth peanut butter.  So incredibly good!

Marsha's/Betty Crocker's No-Bake Chocolate-Peanut Butter Candy Bars

24

creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (16 oz. pkg. "Mother's" Double Fudge)

4

cups miniature marshmallows

1/4

cup butter or margarine

1

cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz)

1

can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)

1

bag (10 oz) peanut butter chips (1 2/3 cups)

1/4

cup creamy peanut butter

1

box, (10 pouches) Quaker peanut butter granola bars, crushed

1

teaspoon vegetable oil

1. Line bottom and sides of 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with foil, leaving foil hanging over 2 opposite sides of pan. In food processor bowl with metal blade, place half of cookies. Cover; process until cookies are finely chopped.  Repeat with the rest of the cookies.
2. In 2-quart saucepan, cook marshmallows and butter over low heat, stirring constantly, until melted. Stir in 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips until well mixed. Then stir in chopped cookies.  Press in bottom of foil-lined baking dish.
3. In medium microwavable bowl, microwave milk and peanut butter chips uncovered on High 30 seconds. Stir; microwave 30 to 60 seconds longer, stirring every 30 seconds, until smooth and creamy. Stir in peanut butter until smooth. Stir in crushed granola bars. Spread over chocolate layer. If peanut butter mixture starts to set, microwave uncovered on High 15 to 30 seconds or until warm and spreadable.
4. In small microwavable bowl, microwave remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips and the oil uncovered on High 30 to 45 seconds or until chips are melted and can be stirred smooth. Drizzle chocolate diagonally over peanut butter layer. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until set. To cut bars, remove from pan, using foil to lift. Cut into 8 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in cool place.

Makes 32 bars

I found that my food processor couldn't handle all the cookies at once, so I did half the package at a time. I believe the recipe probably was calling for Oreo's originally, but I am not a huge Oreo fan (I know... horrors!), so I used "Mother's" Double Fudge chocolate cream-filled chocolate cookies instead. I found them at Wal-Mart. You can use any chocolate sandwich cookie that you like.


I also omitted the peanuts from the original recipe and doubled the granola instead. If you like the peanuts, then you will need to decrease the amount of granola bars. Or, you could also use chunky peanut butter instead of smooth and save yourself the nut-chopping.


The cookie mixture for the crust gets pretty hard to stir when you mix the cookies with the melted marshmallows, but use those muscles and keep stirring until it is all combined or else your crust will not stick together.


I also used Quaker granola bars instead of the Nature Valley that were called for in the recipe To easily crumble the granola bars, simply leave them in their pouches and pound them with the flat side of a meat mallet. You will want to have them all pounded and crushed before you start melting your peanut butter chips, as your peanut butter layer sets up really fast.


Lastly, to help spread out the peanut butter mixture, I found it worked well to slightly moisten my hands with water and then I could gently press/pat the mixture to the edges of the pan. You don't want your hand to be too wet, but dry hand will simply stick to the peanut butter.