Frozen Peanut Butter Bars

Nine out of ten times, if our family is picking out a candy bar that we like to eat, it's usually  Reece's Peanut Butter Cups. We are big fans of the chocolate peanut butter combo. I've loved them since I was a kid and always will. So I was thrilled when a while back, someone posted on our family web page a simple and delicious recipe for Frozen Peanut Butter Bars. I had to try them out, and boy oh boy did I open up Pandora's box when I did. It is kind of embarrassing to admit that I may have eaten about half the pan by myself. They were just too tempting! Now I make sure to share them with friends and neighbors when I make a big batch because a little of these babies goes a long way. This is a definite keeper and a handy go-to recipe that has become one of our family favorites and is a very close stand in when we are craving some Reece's. I love it because I would always put my Reece's in the fridge to get cold, I liked them better that way so this is the perfect recipe for me!

It also meets all my criteria for a user friendly recipe:

*Uses ingredients you always have on hand, no fancy things you have to run to the store for.

*Makes enough for the whole family, with some to spare for friends and neighbors

*No complicated steps

*Can be stored and portioned easily.

Frozen Peanut Butter Bars Recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine
2 cups peanut butter - creamy or chunky
2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
2 cups chocolate chips, semi-sweet or milk chocolate
1/3 cup milk

Directions:
In a large saucepan, melt butter/margarine and peanut butter together over low/medium heat. Mix well. Remove from heat. Add graham cracker crumbs and powdered sugar, mixing well. Spread peanut butter mixture in a jelly roll pan (for thinner bars), or 9x13 pan (for thicker bars). Chill. When the peanut butter layer is firm, melt chocolate chips with milk over low heat. Spread over chilled peanut butter mixture. Chill again.

You can leave them in the pan or cut them into serving size bars. You can wrap them individually or freeze in layers in a large rigid container or gallon sized zip-loc freezer bags -- separate layers with wax paper so they don't freeze/stick together. Then freeze.

Eat straight from freezer, or thaw slightly. You can also keep the whole pan in the fridge if they are going to be eaten right away.

*I usually line the pan with wax paper before spreading the peanut butter mixture in the pan, it just makes it easier to slice and pop them out of the pan that way. You can use a 50/50 mixture of semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips or just whatever you have on hand. They are good no matter what.

P.S. I forgot to add that these are a great warm weather treat because they won't heat up your house to make them. I love that.