Lunch Lady Bars
Whether it's cooking, baking, or a fun drink recipe, it's always a bit of a community effort with us. We might not be the ones to make a dish, but we're always on the search to find new things for us to try. Maria sent a recipe for Lunch Lady Bars over to me and I knew it was something we needed to try! Everyone in our family love chocolate and peanut butter in just about any form, so this was pretty much guaranteed to be successful. The original recipe was on Simply Recipes. But as with many recipes, I decided to check if there were other versions of it out there and what the differences were between them. Of course, there were a few, so this is a bit of a compromise between them. What didn’t change was the yummy combo of chocolate, peanut butter, and a bit of crunch from graham crackers.
Here are a few tips for great Lunch Lady Bars –
The original recipe calls for an 8 x 8 pan, but these bars are super rich! To me 9 x 13 pan gives a better balance between chocolate and peanut butter. (They are still rich 😊)
Crushing the graham crackers yourself definitely gives a better texture. Having some larger bits really adds to the finished bar. Also, make your life easier and measure the graham crackers before you crush them.
Making things easier is why this recipe is all in weights vs cup measurements. If you’ve ever measured peanut butter in a cup, you know how annoying that can be.
Many versions of this recipe say to melt the ingredients in the microwave. You certainly can do that, I just feel there is more control on a stove top. And in the end the clean up is the same and the time is pretty close.
You might want to cover the bars before you put them in the fridge to chill, but don’t. As I learned, until the chocolate is set, there is no way to be careful enough to not have the plastic wrap stick to the chocolate.
Using foil makes a difference!
The bars are so much easier to cut out of the pan and using foil makes it so easy to get them out.
Lunch Lady Bars
You can never go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter! And the crushed graham crackers give this bar a great crunchy texture. Perfect when you need a super easy, no bake option.
Ingredients
- 9 oz Graham Crackers - crushed
- 11 tbsp Butter
- 330 g Peanut Butter
- 170 g Powdered Sugar
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 42 g Peanut Butter
- 254 g Chocolate Chips
- Chopped Peanuts optional
Instructions
- Line 9x13” pan with foil to have ready to go.
- Crush graham crackers - it will give a better texture if they’re not crushed super fine. In a gallon bag with a rolling pin is easiest.
- Melt butter, add powdered sugar and peanut butter, mix well. Add graham crackers.
- Add graham cracker filling to 9" x 13" pan. Press into pan and level out as much as possible. The back of a large spoon can help with this.
- Melt chocolate with butter and peanut butter. Spread evenly over filling, sprinkle with peanuts if using. Chill uncovered for at least 1 hour.
- Remove foil from pan to make cutting easier. They soften up very quickly, so it’s best to store them in the refrigerator after cutting.
