Salted Peanut Chews

by Sabrina Snyder

Last Update:

10 Comments

5 from 4 votes
18 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Refrigerate 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes
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Salted Peanut Chews are a rich, layered treat with a perfect mix of crunchy and chewy textures. This dessert bar has something for everyone!

The next time you need a crowd-pleasing Brownies or Bars, be sure to try out these Peanut Chews; they’re equally chewy, gooey, and crunchy. For more peanut butter recipes, try Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Brownies and Peanut Butter Sheet Cake. 

Sabrina’s Salted Peanut Chews Recipe

It’s the ultimate kid-friendly dessert to bring to a party. Salted Peanut Chews are delicious and make an exciting change from typical brownies or bars. They walk the line between a cookie and a candy. For more original bar recipes, try Peanut Butter and Jelly Blondies and S’mores Cereal Bars.

Recipe Card

Dinner, then Dessert

Salted Peanut Chews Recipe

Salted Peanut Chews are a rich, layered treat with a perfect mix of crunchy and chewy textures. This dessert bar has something for everyone!
Yield 18 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
peanut marshmallow dessert squares stacked on one another
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

Cookie Crust:

  • 1/4 cup peanut butter
  • 1/3 cup unsalted butter , softened
  • 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar , packed
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Peanut Caramel Topping:

  • 2/3 cup light corn syrup
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 10 ounces peanut butter chips , (1 bag, ~ 1 2/3 cups)
  • 2 cups rice krispies cereal
  • 2 cups salted peanuts
  • 10 ounces miniature marshmallows

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9×13 baking dish with baking spray.
  • In stand mixer mix together peanut butter, butter and white sugar on medium speed until fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
  • Add in the brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until creamy.
  • Lower speed to low, then add in flour, baking powder and salt until just combined.
  • Spread into your baking dish and bake for 18-20 minutes until the center is set and cooked through.
  • Top with marshmallows and put back into the oven for 2 minutes until the marshmallows start inflating to double their size (not browning).
  • In a medium saucepan add the light corn syrup, unsalted butter, vanilla extract and peanut butter chips on medium heat and stir until smooth and melted.
  • Add in the rice cereal and peanuts and mix until well coated.
  • Spoon mixture over the marshmallows gently and evenly over the pan.
  • Refrigerate for 1 hour until firm then cut into bars.

Nutrition

Calories: 323kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 26mg | Sodium: 184mg | Potassium: 169mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 406IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 2mg

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Sabrina’s Tips

I like to let each layer set slightly before adding the next, so everything holds together nicely. It makes the bars easier to cut and keeps those layers clean and defined instead of sliding apart.

Table of contents

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About this Recipe

These Peanut Chews are the perfect treat for any peanut butter lover out there. Not only is there a chewy peanut butter cookie base, but there’s also a buttery, sweet peanut caramel topping with crisp rice cereal and whole peanuts in it. The salty peanuts are perfectly balanced out by the middle layer of gooey marshmallow. 

How to Store

  • Serve: To keep your Salted Peanut Chews nice and soft, enjoy them at room temperature. Covered and kept in a dry place, they’ll keep well for up to 3 days.
  • Store: Kept in an airtight container, this dessert will be good in the fridge for a week. 
  • Freeze: You can store Salted Peanut Chew in the freezer for 3 months. Cut the chews into squares, and layer them in freezer bags separated by parchment paper. Let them defrost in the fridge before eating them. 

Ideas to Serve

Peanut Chews are perfect to put out on a cookie tray at a holiday party. Just be prepared for people to ask you for the recipe! Between the crunchy topping, gooey center, and chewy cookie crust, this dessert bar has something for everybody.

Variations

  • Chocolate Peanut Chews: One of the best dessert combos out there is chocolate and peanut butter. Why not try it in this recipe? To add some chocolatey taste, mix cocoa powder into the cookie dough with the other dry ingredients. Be sure to also reduce the flour a small amount so that the mixture isn’t too dry. You can also drizzle melted chocolate over the top of the chews.
  • Nut add-ins: For some more variety in the texture and taste, add some chopped pecans, almonds, or walnuts to the syrup at the same time you add the peanuts. If you do add different kinds of nuts, you’ll have to decrease the peanuts so that there’s still enough syrup to coat them all. 
  • Graham Cracker Crust: To make this recipe a little quicker, make a graham cracker base instead of having to mix and bake peanut butter cookie dough. To make this crust, combine 12 crushed graham crackers with ⅓ cup sugar and 6 tablespoons melted butter. Once you’ve mixed the crust, press it into the baking dish, and add the marshmallows on top to bake. 

More Yummy Peanut Desserts

Collage of peanut bars sliced and unsliced

These photos were used in a previous version of this post:

Bite taken out of peanut squares
Salted Peanut and Marshmallow chews in baking dish
top down view of peanut dessert squares
Dessert squares in stack on brown board

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

    1. Freeze: You can store Salted Peanut Chew in the freezer for 3 months. Cut the chews into squares, and layer them in freezer bags separated by parchment paper. Let them defrost in the fridge before eating them. 

      Reply