Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

Peanut butter and chocolate are soulmates, lovers, best friends. Jelly was just an affair peanut butter had, but he came to his senses finally. These are inspired by Reeses cups, which are by far the most delicious things ever (after Twix of course). I love anything that is remotely related to Reeses: pieces, cereal, mini cups, big cups, and now, these bars. They are quite fun to make and easy too, except there's a process to it that cannot be cut short. The total time it took from start to clean up (including washing the dishes) was approx. 45 minutes. I kind of guesstimated with this recipe. Since there's no baking involved, everything can be eaten the way it is, which makes it easier to taste along the way. I used honey graham crackers instead of original for a little more flavor to the base. The peanut butter to chocolate ratio, in my opinion, is near perfect. I think I'll up the chocolate next time by using a darker, richer chocolate. I used 50% Lindt cacao on this one. This may seem pretty dark to many of you, but I added Nutella to it, so the hazelnut took away from the bitterness a bit, but may have toned it down too much. I used the Nutella not for flavor, but for texture purposes. It makes the final melted product much more creamy and smooth. Anyhow, the key is to melt the chocolate with Nutella in a double boiler and not in the microwave bootleg style. (science alert!: The microwave gives it too much direct heat, which causes the milk to separate from the chocolate, making it much less smoother.) Anyhow, use a double boiler and you'll be much happier in the end. And by double boiler I mean, don't go buy one, that's dumb...use the bowl over the pot method. Take a saucepan and fill it with about 1/2 an inch of water. Turn the heat to low and simmer the water. Put a steel bowl on top, making sure the bottom doesn't touch the water. Voila! Double boiler. Overall, I am happy with the way these turned out.

What's in it:
-honey graham crackers, peanut butter, unsalted butter, powdered sugar, chocolate, Nutella

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