These 5-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cup Bars Taste Just Like a Reese’s

There are few desserts that get me as excited as these no-bake peanut butter bars. If you love the combination of peanut butter and chocolate (like a Reese’s peanut butter cup), then this recipe will be right up your alley. I’ve made these dessert bars several times, and each time I do, they disappear almost instantly. Since then, I’ve kept these ingredients on hand for whenever I need a quick dessert. People ask for the recipe every single time, which just goes to show how much of a crowd-pleaser it is.

The best part is how unbelievably easy it is to make! You only need five ingredients and one bowl to pull it together. It’s the kind of recipe that feels almost too good to be true: No oven, no complicated steps, and it tastes like you put in way more effort than you actually did. 

The peanut butter layer is creamy, rich, and slightly salty, which pairs perfectly with the chocolate topping. Using graham cracker crumbs gives the base a little structure and just enough texture to contrast with the smooth peanut butter. The ingredient list is short, and chances are, you probably already have most of it on hand. That makes it a recipe you can throw together on a whim without a special trip to the store. It’s this simplicity, combined with how much it tastes like the classic peanut butter cup, that makes it a recipe worth keeping in your back pocket.

• Ingredient variations: Instead of graham crackers, you can use an equal weight of vanilla wafer cookies, animal crackers, butter cookies, or Biscoff cookies for the crumbs.
• For thicker bars: Use an 8×8-inch baking pan for thicker bars (but you can also use a 9×9-inch baking pan if that’s what you have).