Homemade Chocolate Crunch Bars

These bars are the result of me taking everything I wanted and packing it into an 8×8 pan. I kept them in my fridge and looked forward to them all day. So good! It’s sort of like a Crunch bar, mixed with a Milky Way, mixed with a brownie, with a little peanut butter for good measure.

In other words, this is the bar of your dreams.

Crunch Bars Recipe

Ingredients

Brownies:

1 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda

Peanut Butter Nougat:

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup evaporated milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 cups (about half a jar) marshmallow creme
3 tablespoons peanut butter

Topping:

1/2 cup puffed rice cereal
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Instructions

Brownie Layer:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8x8 square pan and grease with cooking spray. Make sure the foil extends over the side of the pan.

In a medium saucepan, melt chopped chocolate and butter over low heat until smooth. Add sugar, egg, and vanilla to the melted chocolate and stir until combined. Add flour and baking soda, mix, and pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan. I prefer my brownies slightly under baked, so feel free to leave in a little longer if you want it more done. Cool completely on a wire rack.

For the Nougat Layer and Topping:

Combine sugar, evaporated milk, and butter in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil. Let simmer for five minutes, uncovered. Remove pan from heat and stir in marshmallow creme and peanut butter. Spread over cooled brownies.

Sprinkle rice cereal over nougat layer and press gently into the nougat layer.

Melt the 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips in the microwave with 30 second intervals, stirring after each time until completely melted. Carefully spread over the rice krispy layer. The easiest way to do this is to evenly drizzle the chocolate over the entire pan and carefully spread with an offset spatula. Be careful not to let your spatula touch the rice krispies while spreading the chocolate.

Cover bars and refrigerate until chocolate is set. When ready to serve, lift foil out of pan and cut into squares. You may have to let the bars sit out a little bit at room temperature to get a clean cut.

Store in an airtight container. I like to keep mine in the fridge.