Homemade Reese’s Bars
Homemade Reese’s Bars made with peanut butter, graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and chocolate. It’s really dangerous knowing you can make these at home. In under 5 minutes! One of my favorite desserts EVER and such an easy recipe.
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HOMEMADE REESE’S BARS
These suckers taste just like the peanut butter cups that I love. Whenever we buy a variety bag of chocolate, the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are always the first to go. Coveted by all our children, they never last long. When I made these Homemade Reese’s Bars for family night last week they about had a heart attack.
INGREDIENTS
All you need are five ingredients to make this dessert and about ten minutes to assemble.
- butter
- graham crackers
- peanut butter
- powdered sugar
- semisweet or milk chocolate chips
The crust is made from graham cracker crumbs, butter, and powdered sugar.
The top is made with melted chocolate and peanut butter. You may have to lick the spatula. Just sayin’.
Chill them or leave them at room temperature for a softer version which also makes them easier to cut. You can’t mess these up, I promise.
CAN I USE MILK CHOCOLATE CHIPS?
Yes. I prefer semisweet chocolate chips but milk chocolate works well here too!
OTHER PEANUT BUTTER RECIPES:
- Lunch Lady Peanut Butter Bars
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cupcakes
- Peanut Butter Pie Recipe
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Mini Cheesecakes
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Ritz Bars
- Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
- Culter’s Frosted Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Ritz Crackers
Homemade Reese's Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, melted
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
Topping:
- 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, stir together graham cracker crumbs, confectioners' sugar, peanut butter and melted butter. Press firmly into the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan.
- Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter in the microwave, stirring occasionally. Spread melted chocolate over the crumb crust. Chill for one hour and then cut into squares.
Notes
These are so good! The Graham crackers make the perfect texture. I didn’t have any issues cutting or with sogginess as some mentioned. Honestly, I thought I had messed up because I used natural PB and of course the oil wasn’t mixed properly. But, no. They are fabulous!
Thank you!
This recipe sounds amazing but we are all trying to cut back on the sugar these days …. Just wondering if the sugar could be reduced by at least half ( 2 cups of sugar is ALOT ) without compromising the end result of the recipe ?
Thank you
It should be fine! Good luck
I made these and they were fantabulicious!!! However, in the process of making them, I found that it’s better to chill the peanut butter part in the freezer for about 15/20 minutes before adding the melted chocolate topping, it spreads much easier.
Thanks for the tip Matthew!
Delicious, soooo yummy 😋. Quick and easy to make. Made these a few times, now they are almost a staple. Only fabulous comments. Hat’s off to you!
Thank you!
I initially read this recipe in ” Southern Living” probably 30 yrs ago. Ive been making these gems ever since.
I always have vanilla wafers around, rarely have graham crackers. I use vanilla wafters as the crust. Viola! Delicious. I have also used Hershey’s special dark morsels which work well for this recipe. Hey folks, it’s practically a ” health food!”😉
Enjoy and Merry, merry Christmas to all.
Thank you Susan!
Tried making these twice and the bottom is mushy both times… There’s no way to press this firmly into any pan! What am I doing wrong?
Weird. Are you chilling them after?
Same with mine. Our local grocery store was sold out of box of graham cracker crumbs. I feel like they only turn out that way and not crush them myself.
Yes I chilled them but they still get mushy after sitting out longer than 10 min. I just have to leave them in the fridge and eat them cold.
They are delicious but when I remove them after being chilled the bottom and the top didn’t stay together. I have no idea why this happened 😢
Oops, they came apart after cutting them
You have to let them come slightly more to room temp before cutting.
Same recipe my mom made when I was a kid – one of our favs to have at the holidays along with fantasy fudge, bon bons (Martha Washingtons to most people), and nut roll. PB and chocolate can be a pretty rich combo, but I like the texture the graham crackers add, and I think that also takes the sweetness down a notch.
Thank you!!
Hi! Do you put the bars back in the fridge after cutting them? I am making these for the weekend! Thanks 🙂
They can be at room temp
Love this recipe! I make it all the time and it tastes great. How long will these keep for if I just keep this in the freezer? And can I re-freeze after I thaw them?
I would say at least three months. You can refreeze them
I made these last night and after tasting the crust “dough,” I threw in maybe 1/2-3/4 teaspoon of coarse salt. It made it taste more like a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup in my opinion, and it cut back on the sweetness a bit. I refrigerated for a few hours and these were pretty solid when I went to cut them. Not runny or semi-solid at all. The graham crackers make the texture perfect…just like the real candy! I used a spatula to remove them from the pan. Everyone loved them. I will definitely be making these again. Very rich dessert and oh so good!
Awesome to hear!
Holy shit. So good. Love this recipe- so glad I came across it! Super easy and quick. We are gluten free so used the Kinnikinnick brand and it worked great!
I made this yesterday and followed the recipe exactly, unfortunately the peanut butter layer did not stiffen up like I thought it would, I used 2 cups of graham cracker and put the whole thing in the fridge set up over night. Should I maybe use more graham cracker?
Oh no! These should be semifirm after being in the fridge but still soft.
I make these every year for my family and it’s always a hit! We are a Reese’s loving family! Thank you for this recipe!
You’re welcome!
It had been a long time since I had made these. Googled to land here. BTW, it takes about two less graham cracker sheets shy of two-thirds of a box to make two cups of crumbs. The box is the same size but now only weighs 14.4 oz. Instead of a full pound. If I make these again, I will only use 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar. These bars are really, really sweet.
I just made this recipe and it reminds me of one I made back in my childhood. A couple key differences. first off we used butter instead of peanut butter in the chocolate. Maybe another stick of butter in the crust.
Ooh more butter sounds divine.
I’ve used a very similar recipe for over 30 years. Same as Nuckles, I use 2 Tb of butter in the chocolate instead of PB. Also, I add that extra stick of melted butter to the PB mix. I’ve always used 1 c of light brown sugar in place of gram crackers, mixing it with my hands to warm and melt the sugar granules. Looking forward to trying graham crackers. My wife hates raisins. I throw them on top of the melted chocolate so I can get the whole pan to myself!
These are delish PLUS fast & easy. Definitely all thumbs up in this house!
So happy to hear that!
Super easy and pretty tasty! But tastes nothing like a Reese’s.
Sorry. I think they do.
Hi I am planning on making the bars today and was wondering if you put PB in th crust. Just confused cause in the beginning of the article it doesn’t say to then the recipe says to.
Thanks a bunch
Yes, the crust has PB in it.
I messed them up by putting the peanut butter in the crust on accident!!! Ughhhhhh so sad
Oh never mind i did what it said, it’s very wet crust though for some reason.
So…i messed them up…help….
What went wrong?
Made these. Turned out amazing, tasted just like Reese’s peanut butter cups. Although I chose to double the topping. Put mine in the fridge to set. Everyone loved them. Didn’t even last 24 hours. Thanks for the recipe. Will definitely make again.
Double the chocolate can never be bad!
This was so fun to make its so easy and delicious i love it😍❤️
Thank you!
So delicious and so easy to make! Totally crave-able.
You don’t need to grease the pan because of the butter included in the recipe. I made a half batch -and only needed to microwave the chocolate chips for one minute (30 seconds at a time)
So happy to hear that you loved it!
I was dubious when I saw graham crackers in the recipe but yes this does taste like a Reece’s cup! Winning!
Awesome!
Can these be frozen
YEs! They freeze great.
Thanks for reposting! A quick and easy (and delicious!) dessert my kids were able to make. Score!
You’re welcome!
Cant mess these up? I did!😂😂
The store was closed and I was out of butter. I didnt want to wait so I used cant believe its not butter from a tub. Not a good idea. They still taste good but mushy. We have to use a fork to eat. I will def make again but with butter.
Yep. That’s definitely not going to work. Sorry.
I just found your site and am anxious to try your recipes.
Hope you enjoy!
Hei:)
I absolutely love yur blog! I want to make everything, lol. And the Pictures are great. I will definetly try to make this dessert.Can I ask wich brand of PB you use? I LOVE Reese’s. I bought them the first time I went to USA, because I had seen People it them on tv and such. It was love at first bite<3 I always buy lots of them to take home whenever I visit:) I wish you a great day and weekend 🙂
Love from Norway
Thanks Lis. For this recipe I like to use JIF or any other peanut butter (not natural runny kind).
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How far in advance can you make these?
You can make at least a couple of days in advance and freeze if longer than that.
Homemade Reeses Bars were yummy! Me & my kids were so excited to make them! I used a half a stick less of butter, just seemed like too much butter. I used milk chocolate morsals, because I like milk better than semi sweet, the bars were a little overly sweet for my liking. Next time, I will use half & half with the two chocolate types. I might use half of the powdered sugar, and see if they taste less sweet overall. The bottom was a bit crumbly, might be because I used a half of a stick of butter less. I wasn’t sure if stirring or using a mixer would have been better? There was lil lumps, maybe my kids could have stirred it up better. Maybe they will hold up better if they are even colder, so i put them back in after cutting the bars. I might put less peanut butter in the chocolate next time. Gonna try these tweeks next time. Thanks for a great recipe, I will be sharing the treats with others!!
Thanks Nicolette. You definitely need all the butter so they aren’t crumbly.
Does the pan have to be greased before I put the crust in?
No but it’s doesn’t hurt kist to make sure.
Have u ever tried crunchy peanut butter in the topping? Still using creamy in the crust?
Yes. It gives it great crunch!
AAA+++!!!
These bars are really close to the real deal. After a few batches I’ve tweeked the topping to 1/3 cup PB and and milk chocolate chips instead of semi sweet.
How do i keep the chocolate from separating from the peanut butter and graham cracker layer when i cut them?
I’ve only had this problem if they are really cold. Try letting them sit out and get soft before cutting.
To store them do u keep them in the refrigerator?
You don’t have to.
These bars are delicious! I would recommend chilling the crust before spreading on the chocolate topping. I put the topping on immediately after spreading the crust and had to be very careful not to let the layers mix. Not a terrible problem.
These were super easy and turned out so yummy!!! They will be great for holiday goodies:)?
Yes, perfect!
Soooo goood!! I added rice crispies to the gramcracker crust. Yum!! also, mixed dark chocolate with the semi sweet. This recioie was so quick and easy! Thank you😀
Ooh! I’ll have to try that!
I made these and they turned out mushy too but I think what I did is melt the butter in a glass bowl, and then add the other ingredients to that bowl so everything including the peanut butter got a little over melted. I’m hoping after I chill them they will be fine!
They should be!
Can you use margarine instead of butter in this recipe?
I suppose you could although I’m not a fan of margarine.
I had to nearly double the graham crackers, but it came out ok. More graham crackers or less butter next time and they’ll be perfect.
What else could you use instead of Graham crackers?
Maybe Nilla wafers?
Yes you can use vanilla wafers. You can also use club crackers they might have a odd taste but you can still use them if you want. I use gram crackers they taste better. Yes I am a diabetic, but I was told by my diabetic nurse that I can have a treat once in a while.
I used cinnamon toast crunch cereal crushed up ad it was amazing
Press the crumb mixture firmly to make a crust.
I made these today and the bottom did not set right. Really mushy and hard to hold. Other then that they taste really good. Any suggestions on how to get the bottom firmer for the next time?
Did you refrigerate them?
I made a batch yesterday, these are going on my that’s a keeper list. So good and so easy to make.
Thank you Christy for the great recipe.
You are welcome!!
they arr perfect easy to make but since i live in germany i dont have graham crackes so i did it with buttercrackers came out super easy i wont have to ever make the regular reeses again 😄 thanks for the recipe
You’re so welcome!
These looked so good, I just HAD to make them last night! Took them to work today and, needless to say, the container came home empty…
Soooooo gooooood 🙂
I just made these! They are awesome!!!!!! I couldn’t believe how much they tasted like a peanut butter cup. Will add this recipe to my collection. :0)
These were AMAZING!!! Even better the 2nd day (if there are any left)…very easy, no oven…perfect for those hot summer days!
These look yummy. I haven’t ever tried making these with graham crackers…love your blog!
The graham cracker crumbs are the secret ingredient. Who knew? These are so good I couldn’t stop eating them. Not a good thing!
Hahahaha
These look soooo yummy! Of course, I will be trying them:)