No-Bake Deliciousness

My friend Sarah studied abroad this past semester, and she's been bugging me the whole time to do a recipe that requires no baking, as she's limited to a toaster oven.
(Which reminds me of the year I lived with only a toaster oven and a communal microwave, but that's another post.)
So now that she's about to leave, I finally got around to making my favorite no bake recipe, that I got from my Aunt Ann a couple of years ago, and have been making ever since. But Sarah doesn't really like peanut butter anyway, so maybe she'll be less mad. Or more mad.

Anyway, these are peanut butter chocolate rice krispie bars, and they are delicious, and so, so easy. Seriously, these can be done in ten minutes, and there are only 5 ingredients, that you probably already have in your pantry.
First, you dump the peanut butter, sugar and honey together in a bowl. It should look like this.
Then, microwave it at intervals of 25 seconds, until you can mix it together easily and it looks like this. It should take about 3 bouts of microwaving.
Once it's well mixed, you're going to pour in the rice krispies - so you should start this recipe out in a big enough bowl to mix. Otherwise you'll end up like I did, with a few stray rice krispies on the counter and floor.

Quickly work the rice krispies into the peanut butter mix until they are all coated, and there is no more mixture stuck to the bottom of the bowl. When I gave this recipe to my friend Tali, she was so concerned about working quickly that she made a friend measure the rice krispies while she mixed the peanut butter and honey. I wouldn't worry that much, but I also wouldn't answer the phone while you're doing this. Only because if the mixture cools down too much, it'll make it much harder to mix.

When all the rice krispies are coated, press the mixture evenly into the bottom of a 9x13" inch pan.
Then its time to melt the chocolate, and spread it over the base. This helps them stay together when you cut them up, and of course adds chocolate! I used a 12 ounce bag of chocolate chips, but you can use less or more depending on how much chocolate you want. The 12 ounces just about covers the pan well.
Spread it carefully, so that you don't disturb the rice krispies underneath. You could always stick the pan in the fridge or freezer for a little before adding the chocolate, but I certainly don't have that much patience.
Once you've spread the chocolate, stick it in the fridge or freezer to firm up. I like to leave it there, and enjoy my treats cold, but you can leave it in the fridge or at room temperature as well - it'll just be a little softer.
Cut them into squares, or rectangles, or triangles, or whatever your heart desires.

Now, you're probably wondering what those bars are sitting on in that first shot. I've shown you alot of counters and tabletops and strange places to leave your baked goods in the past couple months. In fact, so far you've seen my old table, my old table covered with a blue tablecloth, my new counter, the range on top of my new oven, the kitchen counter, dining room table and kitchen table of my family home, and even my desk at the office.
But this, well this is actually the ping-pong table in the basement of my parent's house. That, in the background? Those are my dad's weights. I feel like now I've led you on an true exploration of my life. Through baked goods. It's almost like those commercials, where the dad takes his daughter's stuffed animal on his business trip and photographs it in all the places he goes.
So, in that spirit, here are the peanut butter rice krispie bars in my freezer:
Yep, that's vegetable soup in the background. Mmmmm.

Tip of the Day: Always use a metal rack to place your cakes and cookies on after you pull them out of the oven - it can cut your cooling time in half. Don't have one? You can stick it on top of the stove in a pinch, but make sure you turn the oven off!

Recipe:
Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Bars (from Aunt Ann)

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup honey
1/2 cup sugar
5.5 cups rice krispies
Approx 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate.

Place the peanut butter, honey and sugar in a large bowl.
Microwave together until easily mixed.
Quickly stir in the rice krispies until completely coated.
Press into the bottom of a 9x13" pan. Melt the chocolate and spread on top.
Refrigerate or freeze until firm.