Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cereal Bars - 2 Ways!

Let's just be honest here... we eat a lot of peanut butter in this family. While Aiden is a good eater, he still loves his PB&J sandwiches and I don't mind that one bit. Especially when we are out on the go, since they don't need to be refrigerated! So, when I was offered the opportunity to work with SKIPPY® Natural to do some holiday baking I was super excited. Aiden was too... especially when he got to be the "taste tester" before we began.

I do traditionally make a couple of different peanut butter cookie recipes this time of year, but I wanted to try something a little different when I saw that one of the SKIPPY® Natural varieties was dark chocolate. Yum! Aiden is totally into gingerbread men this year, so we decided to make some Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cereal Bars and cut them into gingerbread shapes. Of course, cutting them into shapes meant that there were "scraps" left over. Unlike when you are cutting sugar cookies, you cannot simply re-roll rice crispy treats. SO... I decided to turn them in to delightful little chocolate covered cereal balls!

This particular recipe does not require the standard marshmallows and butter, which was nice since I didn't have marshmallows on hand but I did have all the ingredients I needed to make these treats! Of course you will want to visit this page to grab a coupon and a find a local Walmart that carries SKIPPY® Natural to make sure you have what you need to get baking!!


INGREDIENTS

4 cups crispy rice cereal
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light or dark corn syrup
1/2 cup SKIPPY® Natural Creamy Peanut Butter with Dark Chocolate

Chocolate Almond Bark (for covering cereal balls)

Decorative touches for gingerbread men

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Line cookie sheet with plastic wrap and spray lightly with cooking spray.
2. Pour cereal into large bowl.
3. In medium saucepan, bring sugar and corn syrup to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Boil 1 minute; remove from heat.
4. Stir peanut butter into corn syrup mixture until smooth. Pour over cereal; stir to coat. Press evenly into cookie sheet, making it the desired thickness for gingerbread men.
5. Let treats cool slightly, and then cut your gingerbread shapes with cookie cutter. 
6. Once your shapes are all cut out, roll the remaining scraps of cereal treats into balls.
7. Melt your almond bark according to package directions, and cover each of the cereal treat balls with chocolate and place on foil to cool and harden. Add sprinkles if desired. 

As you can see, I had great help for following these directions!

While creating tasty peanut butter treats was one of the end goals of this cooking adventure, it is equally important to have fun some fun with my son (which also means not worrying about the giant mess we made in the process.) He loves to be in the kitchen, and has been helping me with cooking and baking since he could first stir with a spoon! So for us the holiday baking is about more than the actual baked goods... it is about spending time together in the kitchen and sharing the love with friends and family once the treats are done.

Thank you to SKIPPY® Peanut Butter for sponsoring today’s post and inspiring me to try a new holiday recipe! Be sure to visit the SKIPPY® Peanut Butter Website for recipes, baking tips and more! Grab a coupon while you are there, and make sure to create some great memories while baking with your family this holiday season!

What recipe do YOU most look forward to making this year?