Madhouse recipe : Chocolate Peanut Butter Fridge Bars

These little beauties were inspired by a recipe for No Bake Peanut Butter Bars on The Pioneer Woman's blog, but I adapted it to suit what was in my kitchen. They taste a bit like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and have a gorgeous crispy texture when you bite into them. Unfortunately the whole Madhouse family found these as moreish as I did so they didn't last for long ! I'll definitely be making more.

 Chocolate Peanut Butter Fridge Bars

ingredients :

2 bars of milk chocolate

2/3 cup + 1/2 cup of peanut butter

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup of sugar

2-3 cups of crushed cereal (we used Cini Minis)

Break the chocolate into pieces and put it in a heatproof bowl, along with 2/3 cup of peanut butter. Melt in the microwave or over a saucepan of hot water. Use a spatula to create a smooth mixture. Leave to cool.

Put 1/2 cup of butter and 1/2 cup of peanut butter in a separate bowl.

Smooth together with a spatula until perfectly blended. Mix in the sugar and adjust to taste - it should be quite sweet with a salty undertone.

Put the cereal in a bag and crush with a rolling pin. 

Mix into the peanut butter mixture. You want quite a coarse texture so that it retains some crunch. If not using Cini Minis, you might want to add a teaspoon of cinnamon here, for extra flavour.

Line a loaf tin with clingfilm and press the peanut butter mixture into it, making sure it's quite firmly compressed and gets into all the corners.

Pour the chocolate mixture over the top and spread with the spatula.

Place in the fridge overnight or for as long as you can wait - at least a couple of hours. Carefully slide the clingfilm out of the tin.

Cut into slices.

Then cut the slices into squares. Keep them in the fridge until needed or they will start to go quite soft.

This was a great recipe for using up a jar of peanut butter that has been sitting in the cupboard feeling unloved and for finishing off a box of Cini Minis that the kids had got bored of.

So I'm adding it to this month's #KitchenClearout linky.