Guest Blog: Peanut Butter Squares

Howdy... the incompetent husband, guest blogging today. I've recently had a hankerin' for those old school "peanut butter squares" that they used to (still do? I dunno) serve to kids as dessert as part of school lunches back in elementary school. I found a pin that was supposedly an official school district peanut butter square recipe, but when looking at the ingredients, they didn't seem anything like what I remember as a kid. Sure, it's been more than two decades since I've had one, but I remember them pretty well and I knew that recipe wasn't going to work. I eventually found a very simple recipe on Kraft's site.

Pinned: No-Oven Peanut Butter Squares

Tried: To be honest, this recipe didn't seem quite right, either, so I didn't exactly follow the recipe. Graham cracker crumbs didn't seem appropriate—I don't remember them tasting graham crackery—so I used crushed up Rice Krispies instead. It took a little more than 3 cups of whole Rice Krispies to equal 1 ½ cups when crushed.

Yikes! What's this guy's problem?

We decided against the 13x9 inch pan, as there really wasn't that much dough (batter? I dunno, what do you call this stuff?). It fit the 9x9 inch pan much better. I suggest you do the same (I believe some other pinners also made this recommendation).

We got lazy with the chocolate and just threw in what we had, which was an 11.5 oz bag of Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chips (er... more like 11 oz, since we ate some before they got in the bowl). Sure, it was almost half again as much as the recipe called for, but could more chocolate really be all that bad?

Woo, chocolate...

Conquered: All told, I think this was a success. The Rice Krispies substitution was definitely a good idea—it tasted much more authentic that way. The 9x9 inch pan gave the squares a good thickness. Not as thick as I remember them being, but these squares came out a bit denser so a little less thickness was best (of course, everything in your youth seemed bigger, didn't it?). The real problem was the chocolate. It was way too thick, a real pain to cut without cracking in every direction, and was hard to bite through after cooling in the fridge. Don't be lazy like me. Only use the 8 oz that it called for. Even a little less would probably be fine.

Predictably, he tried to demand another