Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bars

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bars with a mixture of nuts and seeds, a guilt-free dessert with no refined sugar added. These no-bake bars require only a handful of simple ingredients, and are ready to munch in no time. If you are looking for healthier treats, look no more, I've got you covered!

Chocolate treats don't need to be extra sugary to hit the spot, nor do they need to be overly sweet to tickle your taste buds. I don't like compromising on taste either when it comes to a healthier treat, and these crunch bars are the perfect marriage between healthy and delicious.

Peanut butter and chocolate are, without a shadow of a doubt, a match made in heaven. The luxuriously smooth texture of the chocolate goes wonderfully well with the rich and crunchy peanut butter to create a dessert you cannot possibly resist.

Throw in a handful of chopped nuts and seeds for that crunch factor, and you know it can't possibly get any better than that! The maple syrup adds a subtle sweetness without being overpowering or overly indulgent.

There is so much you can choose from when it comes to the nuts and seeds used, I went for pistachios, almonds, cashew nuts and sunflower seeds, but anything goes.

And it's a no-bake dessert, which means that once the chocolate and peanut butter spread cools down and hardens, you are good to enjoy them!

Jump to:

• Ingredients used
• Easy swaps
• Step-by-step photos and instructions
• Expert tips
• Other peanut butter treats
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bars

Ingredients used

• chocolate - I chose Cadbury Bournville classic dark chocolate, which is excellent in baking, but you can go for any good-quality dark chocolate
• crunchy peanut butter - it's got the added crunch of the peanuts already, but if you have only smooth peanut butter, that can be used too, given that we add chopped nuts anyway
• maple syrup
• mixed nuts and seeds - pistachios, almonds, cashew nuts and sunflower seeds

Easy swaps

You can swap maple syrup for honey, golden syrup or agave nectar, whatever you have around should do.

Instead of chopped nuts and seeds you can add rice krispies if you wish for the crunchy touch. Or even a combo of them all.

If you want to make these crunch bars seasonal, you can also add any dried fruit you have around: raisins, cranberries, any currants, chopped dried apricots, prunes, crystallised ginger and so on.

Step-by-step photos and instructions

• break the chocolate into pieces, and add them to a glass bowl set over a pan of simmering water
• allow the chocolate to melt (see photo 2)
• add the peanut butter, chopped nuts and seeds, and mix
• leave the mixture to melt further to allow all the ingredients to be well combined
• line a square baking tray with non-stick paper, and transfer the mixture into an even layer
• leave it to cool at room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 1 hour to be fully set
• use a sharp knife to cut it into bars

Expert tips

If the peanut butter is too solid, you can melt it separately in a similar way you melt the chocolate, and then combine the two together, otherwise the cool solid peanut butter might make the chocolate harden before you have a chance to mix them together.

It is best to melt them over a medium heat, rather than a high heat. Do not allow the simmering water to touch the bottom of the glass bowl, it can make the chocolate grainy.

You can also use a microwave to melt the chocolate and peanut butter, but do make sure you don't use a too high heat, or they could burn.

Other peanut butter treats

If you’ve liked this recipe or any other recipe on the blog then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM , YOUTUBE, TIK TOK , FLIPBOARD and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’m getting up to.