Summer’s here and for most of us, slogging in the kitchen is NOT our idea of summer fun! If you’d love to spend as little time as possible with the stove and oven, I have good news for you! Here is a no-bake dessert recipe that requires no baking and very little heat otherwise – Peanut Butter Chocolate Squares.

Also, this is a recipe where you can include the little ones, who’ll get a high from actually helping out in the kitchen. The list of ingredients is small mostly includes items you already have in your kitchen cupboard. All in all, this recipe is sure to be a hit among the Moms and the kids!

No-Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Squares

Ingredients:

• Butter (preferably white unsalted) – 2 and a half tablespoons
• Digestive biscuits (preferably thick ones) – 120 grams
• Peanut butter (crunchy or creamy) – 3 tablespoons
• Brown sugar /castor sugar – 3-4 heaped tablespoons (depending upon your taste)
• Dark or white chocolate – about 425 gm (I used Dairy Milk for the first coat & several squeezes of chocolate sauce as topping. Feel free to either skip or adjust the topping)
• Milk – 2 tablespoons
• Vanilla extract – 1.5 teaspoon

In addition to these, you’ll also need a square or rectangular baking sheet/tray, aluminium foil to cover the tray and a brush.

Method :

1. Place the digestive biscuits in a clean ziploc or plastic bag and run a rolling pin over it a few times till all the biscuits are crumbs.

2. Put the butter in an microwave-safe bowl and  microwave it for 30 seconds or till completely melted. Make sure you don’t let it burn. This can also be done on the stove.

3. To the melted butter, add the crumbled digestive biscuits, peanut butter, sugar & vanilla extract. This when you can dig in your hands while your kid adds in one item after the other, provided they have been set out in the right measure beforehand. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.

4. Line the baking tin or tray with the aluminum foil. With a brush, grease the foil with some butter. This will help the squares come off the tray easily.

5. Dump the peanut butter mixture on the prepared tray and flatten it out with a spatula or the back of the spoon. A smaller tray will give you thicker squares, and a larger one will give you thinner bars. Place the tray in the refrigerator to firm up.

6. Break the chocolate into small pieces and place in a microwave -safe bowl along with the milk & half tablespoon of butter. Microwave for 40 seconds or till completely molten. You can also melt the chocolates in a double boiler on the stove top.

[For a double boiler, place a high rim pan or narrow mouthed handi and keep the heat safe bowl of chocolates on top of it. Make sure the bottom of the bowl gets the steam from below but doesn’t touch the hot water. Touching the water below will make the chocolate grainy. Stir well.]

7. Pour the chocolate above the set biscuit-peanut butter mixture. Tap the tray to uniformly distribute the chocolate topping over the base. Chill again for at least 4-6 hours. If you like, you can use another layer of chocolate sauce over the chilled chocolate topping to have two layers of chocolate.

8. Garnish with drinking chocolate powder or sweetened cocoa on top. You can also sprinkle chocolate vermicelli or chocolate shavings. When everything is firm and completely set, dip your knife into lukewarm water, cut into squares and serve.

A few things to take care of:

• Do not over-heat/burn the butter or chocolate.
• Do crumble the digestive biscuits well before adding it to the butter. Waiting will result in absorption of butter in some parts while others remain dry.
• Always use microwave-safe tins/trays for microwave use.
• Do not try to spread the molten chocolate on the peanut butter-biscuit mixture, you will ruin the setting.
• Do not overheat the knife directly on fire before cutting the squares. Always use lukewarm water.
• To minimize the mess, you can do the first half of the recipe (base) beforehand, set it firmly in freezer and then do the chocolate step after few hours. This is especially useful for novices to cooking!

There, this is as easy as it gets! If you use the microwave, you can completely avoid the stove too, and you’ll have a delicious dessert ready with very little effort! If you have kids sitting at home bored during the summer, show them this recipe and get everyone busy in the kitchen!

Author

Roy from http://pieceofcerebrum.wordpress.com/