MOM! I want a snack
Peanut Butter Bars
If you’ve kids, no doubt you’ve heard some version of “What can I have for a snack?”
You’ll have nothing and like it.
Of course, that’s not what we say, just what we think.
Boxed snack bars are a horror show. The packaging is almost better than the bar. So, the kids almost never got snack bars from a box.
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I knew there had to be something I could do. I started playing with the idea, found a base recipe and toyed and tweaked and twisted. It worked. I made a bar that had ingredients I can pronounce and didn’t hate.
It has marshmallows. I can make my own-but for this I do not. I buy commercial marshmallows. I use excellent peanut butter and raisins and almonds and rice cereal. The main goal was to find a snack bar I can live with and which the kids will eat.
Quality Still Matters
Commercial marshmallows may be more science than food, but that’s a concession I am willing to make.
I don’t cheat on the rest of the ingredients with the possible exception of the chocolate chips on top. I would prefer a darker, higher percentage chocolate, but they won’t eat it.
The base is a caramel and then substitutions can be made aplenty.
I use simple peanut butter: ground peanuts and salt. Cashew or almond or pistachio or sunflower butters would also work. I add sliced almonds, plumped raisins, sometimes chia seeds, traditional oat meal (not the quick cook variety), and a quality puffed rice cereal for the crunch. A good bar has to crunch.
There is a lot of room to alter and adjust and substitute, but the caramel ratios ought to remain intact. If marshmallows seem beyond the pale for you, evaporated milk or sweetened condensed milk might work to soften the caramel and keep the bar soft. That’s an idea which I have not tested but might work.
The Kids Are Alright
I let my 11 year old help. She scales all the ingredients, puts everything back, learns to work in a kitchen and organize her stuff and check the recipe before she starts. There are lots of lessons in cooking which are not restricted to cooking. She learns some valuable life skills and cooking skills. Not a bad day of parenting.
Peanut Butter Snack Bars
I hate the boxed snack bars. Don't and won't buy them and the kids know it. This is something I can at least see the ingredients and I get to teach kitchen skills at the same time and bond. Can't get that in a box.
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Snack Bars
- 200 g Light brown sugar
- 115 g Whole unsalted butter
- 150 g Honey
- 350 g Sugar free peanut butter
- 5 ml Vanilla extract
- 150 g Regular rolled oats Not instant or quick cooking
- 100 g Good quality puffed rice cereal
- 150 g Mini marshmallows
- 50 g Raisins, soaked in water 2 hours
- 50 g Sliced almonds
- 225 g Dark chocolate chips
Instructions
Make the bars
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In a thick bottomed 6 qt sauce pan, add the butter, honey and brown sugar. Gather, scale, and organize the rest of the ingredients. Place the oats, rice cereal and almonds into a deep, tall bowl. I use the mixing bowl from the Kitchen Aid mixer.
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Heat the butter, sugar, and honey on medium heat to 230°F. This may take a few minutes for everything to start to melt. Use a wooded spoon to ensure no sugar is sticking and burning to the pan. Once the caramel starts to boil, do not stir.
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When the caramel reaches 230°F, carefully-to avoid burning you-remove the thermometer and place it out of the way.
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Add the peanut butter and mix.
Add the marshmallows and mix until melted.
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Now, a slight shift. Add the caramel mix to the rice and oats. Add the raisins and vanilla and mix with a wide rubber spatula, folding and pushing with some urgency as the relative cool oats/cereal mix is cooling the caramel and making mixing challenging.
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Once all the ingredients are mixed, pour the mixture onto a parchment paper lined quarter sheet pan and push the bar mixture to the edges and corners of the pan with the rubber scraper.
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Place another piece of parchment paper on top of the mix and press gently to spread and even.
I discovered that pressing with vigor makes a bar too hard to eat. I prefer a softer bar.
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When the mixture is mostly cool, place the chocolate chips on top, cover with the other piece of parchment paper, and press the chips into the bar.
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The heat from the bars may make the chips melt a bit. When they cool, the chocolate may bloom-the funny looking dusty color on the outside.
It is unattractive but perfectly fine. The chocolate has lost its temper.
If you wish, add the chips into the mixture, but know that the heat of the mixture will melt the chips completely making chocolate peanut butter bars.
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When the mixture has cooled to the touch, remove the slab by lifting up on the parchment paper. Place it on a cutting board and portion as you see fit.
I bisect the slab lengthwise and the cut bars from the two pieces.
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Wrap each in plastic wrap and if you wish, then into a snack sized zip top baggie. Store in a cool place or in the refrigerator.
Recipe Notes
This bar is very versatile. I've added and subtracted items looking for that perfect bar for the kid.
This as is pretty much is it, for us.
I have used chai seeds and sesame seeds, flax seeds and wheat germ. You can add almost anything you wish, but I suggest keeping the quantities for the caramel intact.
I don't know the volume of the rice cereal, but it's a kinda a lot. As long as you can keep the basic balance of ratios intact, so the caramel can grab all the stuff, you should be good to go.
