These chocolate peanut butter bars are dense and chewy and delicious and are easy to make using a cake mix and powdered peanut butter. 

You know when cake mixes go on sale and you feel like you just can’t pass up that deal? But really, if you’re like me, I don’t bake cakes or cupcakes all that often.

I end up with boxes of cake mixes sitting in the pantry for a really long time. Having a few fun alternative recipes for cake mixes on hand helps use up the mixes. Plus cake mixes just seem to make baking seem easier. 

These chocolate peanut butter bars are an excellent way to use up a box of chocolate cake mix. You will also need some peanut butter powder. That stuff is fascinating! I love peanut butter and having it in a non-gooey form is incredible. 

The best part of these bars are the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups baked right into them. Seriously. You just can not go wrong making this incredible recipe. The bars end up thick and chewy like a brownie packed full of chocolatey peanut buttery goodness. 

Easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Put the cake mix, brown sugar, powdered peanut butter and flour in a mixing bowl and mix well. You can mix these by hand or use a stand mixer. The dough takes a little muscle to come together so using a stand mixer or hand mixer will save you some work.

Add the butter, eggs and water to the dry ingredients. Mix until a dough forms.

You’ll think I’m crazy and this dough will never come together. Give it a good minute or two of mixing and you’ll have dough. The mixture starts out really dry but will come together to form a stiff dough.

Press dough into the prepared and greased 9 x 13 cake pan. To make this easier, cover your hand with a sandwich bag sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Using the bag over your hand to press down makes the job quick and easy. This trick works great for Rice Krispies Treats, too! 

Once the batter is firmly pressed into the baking pan, unwrap Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Make sure you have a few extra on hand because for snacking. Very gently press the peanut butter cups into pan, about 2″ apart as shown.

This dough is thick, thick, thick so be gentle as to not break the peanut butter cups. That would be a travesty. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until edges are brown.

Cool completely before cutting into 48 bars, making sure you cut through the center of each peanut butter cup so each bar gets a bite of the candy.

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Yield: 48 Bars

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

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These chocolate peanut butter bars are dense and chewy and delicious and are easy to make using a cake mix and powdered peanut butter. 

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 package, 15.25 oz, chocolate cake mix
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup P2B powdered peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons water
• 12 full size Reese's peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9x13 pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a mixing bowl, add cake mix, brown sugar, powdered peanut butter and flour. Mix well. Stir in butter, eggs and water. Mix until a dough forms.
3. Press dough into prepared pan. I often cover my hand with a sandwich bag sprayed with nonstick cooking spray and press the dough into the prepared pan.
4. Gently press peanut butter cups into pan, about 2" apart as shown.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until edges are brown.
6. Cool completely before cutting into 48 bars, making sure you cut through the center of each peanut butter cup so each bar gets a bite of the candy.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

48

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 104Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 10mgSodium: 115mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 1gSugar: 10gProtein: 2g