Peanut butter/chocolate squares

I'll be on a plane away from winter in 48 hours. Whoo-hoo! Chicago's weather is cooperating in making this cruise a much-appreciated, well-timed trip. Temps in the teens and 20s? You betcha. Snow and ice? Oh, yeah. We got 6" on Tuesday, and 6" to 9" is expected by midday tomorrow. I will feel like the luckiest bastard on earth to be heading to the Caribbean on Saturday. Sure, returning from a week's vacation and then having to pull out all the Christmas crap and play Santa on the 27th will be rough, but...I think I'm not allowed to complain here.

I was just about to share a recipe for peanut butter/chocolate bars over at Bitch Ph.D., where a more complicated recipe for homemade Reese's knockoffs is shared. Why not jot it down here and link to it there?

If you need to take treats to a holiday gathering and you're looking for something easy and no-bake—and if you like peanut butter and chocolate and sweet treats so rich you have a really difficult time pigging out on them, because you just can't swallow* that many of these—try this recipe:

Orange's Orangeless Peanut Butter/Chocolate Squares

3/4 cup butter
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup chocolate chips** (or about 6 oz. of the chocolate of your choosing, broken into pieces)

In a large, microwave-safe bowl, melt together the butter and peanut butter. Stir until well blended.

Add the graham cracker crumbs and powdered sugar. Stir until blended. (This takes muscle, as the mixture is stiff.

Press mixture into a 13"x9" pan.

In a smaller microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips gradually. (Microwave for maybe 1 minute, take out and stir. Nuke for another 30 seconds, take out and stir. Keep nuking in 30-second increments and stirring the hell out of the chocolate until it's a smooth, thick liquid.) Spread the melted chocolate on top of the peanut butter mixture. Chill well, and cut into squares.

*This post mentions 6" to 9", swallow, a stiff mixture, and a smooth, thick liquid. It can't be helped.

**My sister's version of this recipe calls for mixing butter or margarine in with the chocolate, but I don't think it's necessary. Maybe the chocolate cuts without cracking if it's mixed with an oil? I don't know.