Peanut Butter Bars (Gluten Free)

Peanut Butter Bars are always a hit.  I've been making them since I was in high school, and there's never been a time when they weren't VERY well received.

This time around, I made them gluten-free so that I wouldn't leave out the gluten-free people that they would be shared with.  My recipe usually includes graham cracker crumbs.  I subbed in cashew meal and coconut flour instead.  If you want to make them the regular way, just replace the same amount of graham cracker crumbs back in.

What you need:

Base:
1 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
scant cup EACH cashew meal (or almond) and coconut flour
2+ cups powdered sugar

Ganache Topping:
8 ounces chocolate chips or bittersweet chocolate *see note
4 ounces heavy cream


Mix together peanut butter and butter until smooth.  Stir in the cashew meal and coconut flour.  Add the powdered sugar and stir until the mixture becomes a thick mass.  It WILL be very crumbly at first, but stick with it and it will form a dough-like mass.  Pat this into a deep-sided container (I actually used two smaller Pyrex containers this time, but a 11 x 7 inch pan works perfectly.  I've also done 13 x 9, but you will have thinner bars).

Now, for the ganache topping:  Melt the chocolate and the heavy cream together over a double broiler (place a metal bowl on top of a sauce pan with water in it to make your own double broiler).  Once smoothly mixed, pour over the top of the peanut butter mixture.  Refrigerate for an hour or two before cutting into bars.  Keep refrigerated.

Enjoy!



*I usually get Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips- cheaper than the bars of bittersweet, but nicer quality than regular chocolate chips.  I was stuck with Tollhouse this time around, which works fine.