Chocolate Peanut Butter Diamonds
The Milk Bar banana cake has long been a staff favorite: banana cream, hazelnut crunch, chocolate-hazelnut ganache, and hazelnut frosting it’s not for the faint of heart.
I love bananas, but the real MVP of that recipe is the nutty crunch, a magical mix of hazelnut praline, toasty flakes of feuilletine (a fancy French thing), and salt.
These peanut butter bars are an homage to that particularly magical component of that cake, swapping the feuilletine for ground Rice Krispies cereal for more ease and accessibility. Even easier still: These soon-to-be-favorites don’t require an oven at all.
Choose vegan chocolate chips if your crowd is entirely dairy-free! If not, the classic chocolate chip will work great!
Do you have extra toasted Rice Krispies, but you’re not in the mood for a bowl of cereal? Save them to add to Milkflake Crisp (this page) or top your next batch of macaroni and cheese just trust me.
While these like a few minutes out of the freezer to soften before you demolish them, they don’t like to wait all day to be consumed, although personal history tells me this will not be an issue.
Ingredients:
95g Rice Krispies cereal 3½ cups
240g confectioners’ sugar 2 cups
4g kosher salt 1 tsp
110g coconut oil or vegan ½ cup butter
295g creamy peanut butter 1 cup + 3 T, divided
180g semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions:
Line an 8 × 8-inch square pan with 2 perpendicular pieces of plastic wrap with a few inches hanging over the edges.
In a large skillet, toast the Rice Krispies over medium heat until darkly golden and fragrant, about 3 minutes.
Transfer to a food processor and grind until broken up like fine bread crumbs. (Alternatively, place them in a 1-gallon plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush by hand.)
Transfer to a large bowl, add the confectioners’ sugar and kosher salt, and whisk together, breaking up any large clumps.
In a microwave-safe medium bowl, melt the coconut oil in the microwave in 10-second spurts until liquid.
Add 250g (1 cup) of the peanut butter to the melted oil and whisk together until shiny and smooth.
Pour the peanut butter mixture into the bowl with the sugar and crumbs and use your hands (truly the best tool!) to squeeze and fold together until big crumbs form.
Distribute the crumbs around the plastic-lined pan and press down firmly, filling in all gaps to form a solid layer. Use the flat bottom of a glass or measuring cup to finish smoothing and evening out in small circular motions.
In a microwave-safe medium bowl, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in 30-second spurts, stirring after each, until smooth. Add the remaining 45g (3 tablespoons) of peanut butter to the melted chocolate and stir to combine.
Pour the chocolate/peanut butter mixture over the flattened Rice Krispies/peanut butter layer and, using a butter knife or small offset spatula, spread it into a smooth layer from corner to corner.
Top with a generous amount of flaky salt.
Transfer to the freezer uncovered for 40 minutes, or until firm to the touch.
Use the plastic overhang to lift the bars out of the pan and onto a cutting board. Tug to remove the plastic wrap from beneath and toss. Let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes to soften.
Use a long chef’s knife to score the top at 1-inch intervals all the way across. Slice into eight 1 × 8-inch strips. Set one strip at a time in front of you lengthwise and slice at a 45-degree angle in 1½-inch lengths to form diamonds.
Serve out of the fridge or freezer! The bars can be wrapped and refrigerated for 1 week or frozen for 1 month.
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