I love peanut butter. And I love Nutella. Two great loves of my life.
And these bars combine those two loves.
The finished product is like eating the inside part of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup that’s been spiked with a bit of Nutella.
All coated with chocolate frosting.
Make no mistake: It’s very fast and easy to get Project Ooh and Ahh going.
They are no-bake, and no mixer is required. In just a few minutes and you’ll be oohing and ahhing, too.
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Nutella & Peanut Butter Graham Bars with Chocolate Frosting
For the bars:
1 c butter (2 sticks), melted
1/3 c brown sugar
2 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 c graham cracker crumbs
1/2 c Nutella
2/3 c peanut butter
For the chocolate frosting:
1.5 c chocolate chips
1/4 c butter
1/4 c cream or milk
1/2 c powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Directions: In a large microwave safe bowl, melt the butter. Then add the brown sugar, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and stir by hand until combined (will look lumpy and strange). Then add the graham cracker crumbs and stir until combined. Finally, add the Nutella and peanut butter and stir until combined. Press the mixture into a sprayed 9 x 9 pan (for thinner bars, use a 9 x 13 pan but I prefer thicker bars). Place in freezer.
While the bars are cooling, make the chocolate frosting by melting the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl, taking care not to scorch them and checking every 15-30 seconds or so. After the chocolate chips are melted add in butter and cream and stir to incorporate. Then add powdered sugar and vanilla extract and stir to incorporate. If mixture becomes too thick to work with and the chocolate begins to set up, microwaving it again for 15 seconds will soften it.
When the frosting is ready, remove the bars from the freezer, frost them, and put bars back into the freezer to set up for a half hour before slicing them.
I store my sliced bars in the freezer or fridge in an airtight container and take them out about 20 minutes prior to eating. As they come up to room temperature, the flavor intensifies and they are more delicious and creamy but they will keep for weeks/months in the freezer as a make-ahead dessert.
Notes & Substitutions:
To make this vegan, replace all butter and cream with margarine and almond or soy milk. Rather than using Nutella use all peanut butter, use chocolate peanut butter that is vegan-safe, or add some cocoa powder to the nut butter of your choice.
To make this gluten free, use GF graham cracker crumbs.
If you don’t like Nutella, don’t have it, have a peanut allergy, want to use different ratios or types of nut butters, etc. feel free to try them. More than likely most substitutions will work just fine. You’re looking for approximately 1 to 1.5 cups of nut butter, total, in whatever type and combination you prefer.
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A Visual Guide
First melt the butter in a microwave-safe bowl
Add in the sugars & stir
Then add the graham cracker crumbs & stir
Then, add in the Nutella and PB & Stir
Didn’t I tell you, these were calorie free?
The bowl weighed about 5 pounds at this point. Butter, sugar, graham cracker crumbs, Nutella & PB. What’s not to love?
Press the mixture into the sprayed pan and freeze.
Make and apply the chocolate frosting, and put the whole thing back into the freezer to set up for a half hour or so.
The finished bars are rich, decadent, fattening, sweet, peanut buttery with a hint of Nutella, too. Everything I want in a dessert.
I don’t want “healthy” desserts.
I want these.
It’s like the bar version of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. The graham cracker crumbs, combined with the sugar, butter, and Nutella, make a really close approximation of a Reese’s PB Cup.
And that’s a beautiful thing.
This is the type of dessert I’d recommend cutting the pieces fairly small. They are like lead balloons of sugar and butter and nut butter in your belly, which is wonderful. And filling.
But suit yourself and cut them big, by all means!
This recipe looks longer and far more complicated than it is. It took me longer to type this up than make these bars. Truly, a 5-minute special of active prep time. I was just being extra thorough with the directions and notes based on questions I anticipate receiving.
Similar & Related Recipe Suggestions:
If you like Peanut Butter, check out my entire section of Peanut Butter Recipes
If you like Chocolate, check out my Chocolate Recipes
If you like Chocolate + PB, try Raw Vegan Peanut Butter Cups
If you like Nutella, check out my Fudgy Nutella Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting
If you like Peanut Butter + Chocolate + In Bar Form, check out No Bake Nutter Butter & Special K Bars with Chocolate Frosting
and No Bake Special K Bars with Chocolate Frosting
From my last post featuring our Aruba Vacation Highlights, thanks for saying it was fun for you to see. It was fun for me to post! And I loved hearing about your favorite vacation memories and stories.
Questions
1. Best thing you’ve ate or done so far this weekend?
These bars rank right up there and Sunday I plan to take lots of pictures. I love planning and scheduling photo-making time for myself. It’s like a date with myself and my camera. It’s such a nice thing for me to have that penciled in on my mental calendar and I look forward to it but it’s weather dependent so we shall see.
2. Do you like Nutella? Peanut Butter? Chocolate?
If you say no, I may question your sanity.
3. Any favorite desserts you’ve had lately?
P.S. If you’re just catching up on posts from the weekend, here are mine since Friday
I’m craving these so hard right now. I need them, like asap. Peanut butter and nutella are my two greatest loves. My name is written all over them!
Hope all is well :)
Um. I’m pretty sure you just invented the best thing in the world. Peanut butter? Chocolate? Grahams? Nutella? Is there seriously anything better? Nutella actually brought my BFF and I together! I spotted her in her college dorm room holding a jar and I immediately barged in the room and introduced myself. We then proceeded to bond over the amazingness that is Nutella. Never underestimate the power of chocolate!
thanks for the compliments and love your bff/nutella story!
OH MY GOODNESS! I think I’ve said this about a billion times about things on your blog but these are the best things I’ve ever seen. You must have read my mind because peanut butter + nutella are two of my very favorite things too! And these look so dense and rich and utterly amazing. Averie, you have outdone yourself.
that’s high praise that you say I outdid myself..thank you hon :)
Your description of it is mouth-watering. I don’t think I could (should) keep these around though…it’s too tempting and I have serious self-control issues with sugar and chocolate :(
I used to be obsessed with PB! I never thought I’d “get off it” – but I tried Almond butter about a year ago – thinking that I wouldn’t like it as much and be able to break my addictions….um, not so much – turns out I love Almond Butter even BETTER!
Yikes! Cashew butter and Sunflower seed are other faves.
And this is why I love you: “the inside part of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup that’s been spiked with a bit of Nutella”
You have truly outdone yourself with this recipe. Seriously. My mom and I are sitting down tomorrow to decide what to make for my grad party next weekend and I think i know what to make for dessert.
put these on your list of to-make items :)
wow YUM! nutella, pb, choc yes yes yes!
this weekend has included lots of crazy waitressing shifts, a farmers market, tons of samples and sales at a cheese and wine shop (! so fun), and lots of time with friends. IT’s been a good one so far. Enjoy your day with the camera tomorrow, I also LOVE planning days like that.
LOVE this post. Loving your blog lately in general. The food, the photographs, the fun. I feel happier every time I visit :)
and I love me some peanut butter and chocolate (combined or by themselves), but strangely enough I do not like nutella. weird, I know….
I think my favorite dessert will always be (vegan) ice cream
thank you for the compliments and for reading.
Best part of my weekend so far has been taking some pictures along the railways here in Kitchener, Ontario. I experimented with different settings on my camera – and that was a lot of fun!
cool! i’m in waterloo! :)
OMG. Seriously, those bars look absolutely scrumptious!! I love chocolate and peanut butter together and the heavier and denser the better. I am making those tomorrow for my boys! They will be soooo happy! I gotta say, Averie, the thing I love about your recipes is that 1) they are simple and easy to make and 2) the taste is not compromised due to #1! Thank you for your yummy posts! :-)
Best thing I ate this weekend? Some steamed broccoli combined with a delicious salad, all sprinkled with nutritional yeast! YUM!
regarding 1. yes I have a life and not all of it is spent in the kitchen :) nor is MOST people’s…so I try to keep things easy :)
and 2. yes. Why bother even making anything if it’s not stellar.
And i love how you go from steamed broc/nooch to desserts like i do!
I want all of everything you posted. PB and nutella? YES PLEASE RIGHT NOW. When I was in Thailand I ate a crepe with Nutella and banana every day for breakfast (in hindsight I called my mom complaining about how crappy I was feeling almost every week when I was over there…)
best thing I did this weekend – submitted an app to a 200 hour RYS summer intensive training :) Yay!! Best thing I ate- gluten free chocolate cupcake from Babycakes. I’m so in love with those, I make a weekly trip and splurge. Yum.
that is so awesome about your 200 RYS application! keep me posted :)
I am drooooling. WHERE DID YOU FIND THAT GORGEOUS BOWL?!
A 99 cent white bowl that is placed on top of a 1.99 plastic plate from Target. Cheapie stuff!
I love nutella and PB and chocolate — these look amazing! And your pictures look fantastic too!
thank you Holly!
and for your praise on my last post, too, that it shows that I do put time into my posts. Thank you for saying that :)
These look amazing, Averie!! YUMMM! :-D
You are seriously becoming the dessert queen of the blogosphere, I’m telling you!! Outdoing yourself with each and every recipe. If I could afford it right now, I’d be on a plane in a heartbeat to enjoy your delightful company and your badass desserts! ;)
Ummm you are soooo sweet, seriously. I heart you :)
Mmm – peanut butter and chocolate is simply a classic, adding nutella and graham? genius. these look great!
the best part of my weekend? I am finally home, if only for a short while. my standing Sunday lunch date with my dad happens tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to it.
hope you are having a great weekend, enjoy your camera date! :D
have fun with your dad!