If you love peanut butter and chocolate, this Healthy Peanut Butter Bark is a delicious treat you can make in no time! As a little girl, I grew up eating Buckeye Balls (chocolate with peanut butter in the middle) every Christmas. When I helped my mom make them, it was a lot of work rolling them into balls and coating each one in chocolate. When I discovered Peanut Butter Bark, I realized I could have a delicious chocolate treat in a quarter of the time, and it became an easy favorite! It’s so easy and so delicious!
It’s challenging to find an indulgent treat that isn’t full of highly processed flours and sugars. If you’re selective with the ingredients you use in this recipe, you can make a completely sugar-free, guilt-free treat to satisfy your chocolate, peanut butter cravings. My boys even told me I was lying, and that there was no way this recipe did not have sugar in it. That’s definitely a win!
Depending on your goals, you can make this recipe with regular chocolate chips, almond bark, and peanut butter for a quick and easy treat. You can also get chocolate chips and peanut butter without all the sugars and have an on-plan dessert that doesn’t totally throw you off track. Either way, I hope you fall in love with this Peanut Butter Bark that has become a Christmas tradition at our house!
Healthy Peanut Butter Bark
Course: DessertDifficulty: Easy20
servings10
minutes337
kcal1
hour30
minutesIngredients
2 Cups Chocolate Chips (I like to use Bake Believe Dark Chocolate chips because they don’t have sugar and taste delicious)
2 Cups White Chocolate Chips (you can also use White Chocolate Almond bark, but if we’re trying to avoid sugar, we use Lily’s White Chocolate Chips)
16 Oz Peanut Butter (you can check the label to make sure it’s a natural peanut butter without added sugar; if you’re using a peanut butter that goes in the fridge after opening, you’ll want it to be at room temperature)
- Other Needed Items:
Wax Paper
Directions
- Lay wax paper over 2 baking sheets. Melt regular chocolate chips in the microwave or on the stove using a double boiler (over a pan of water). Thinly spread melted chocolate evenly on the wax paper.
- Melt the white chocolate chips. While it’s hot, stir peanut butter into the white chocolate to make a peanut butter-flavored chocolate. If the peanut butter is not as smooth as you like, you can heat it up about 15 seconds with the white chocolate.
- Drizzle peanut butter mixture over the regular chocolate. Using a knife, gently swirl it with the chocolate to get a marbled look.
- Place pan in fridge to harden.
- Once bark is good and hard, pull it out of the fridge and break it up into smaller pieces. About an hour should be plenty of time in the fridge. Just break it into pieces that are the size you want your bark to be.
- Store bark in sealed container and refrigerate. You can layer, but you may want to add wax paper between layers to keep from sticking.
What Ingredients Should I Use to Make This a Sugar-free Treat?
If you’re looking for a dessert to help you stay on track with your fitness goals, the ingredients you select for this recipe will make a huge difference! Using regular chocolate and regular peanut butter (many of which contain added sugars) are great if you’re enjoying a free meal, but you can make it without added sugars with a few very small tweaks.
Lily’s White Chocolate Chips are sweetened with Erythritol and Stevia Extract. Those are both sweeteners that do not affect the insulin and sugar levels in the body the same way sugar does. Although you could use Lily’s Chocolate for both the Chocolate Chips and the White Chocolate, I really love the Bake Believe Dark Chocolate Chips. They contain the same kinds of sweeteners as the Lily’s, and they have a rich, delicious flavor. The Bake Believe Chocolate chips don’t have any kind of “off” taste, like a lot of sugar-free foods, and are a great go-to for any chocolate craving.
For the peanut butter, you might be surprised how many store-bought peanut butters contain added sugar. Just check the label to be sure you aren’t adding even more sugar, especially if you are trying to keep this recipe the “Healthy Peanut Butter Bark” version.
How do I Create the Marbled Look for My Healthy Peanut Butter Bark?
To get the marbled look, just take it one step at a time. First, spread the chocolate layer thinly over wax paper. Then, make the peanut butter layer and just drizzle it across the top. You can use a knife to swirl it in different directions to get the look you want. I swirled it across the entire length of the pan to get it mixed initially, and then I worked it in smaller motions across the shorter length of the pan.
Why Avoid Sugars in My Diet?
Millions of dollars are made every year because of sugar-free products and diet drinks. Why is limiting sugar in our diet so important? Why make Peanut Butter Bark without sugar when you can just make it using regular chocolate chips?
It’s difficult to find items in the grocery store that don’t contain sugar. To learn more about what sugars are good for you and which ones to avoid, learn more here. The problem is not that we enjoy a small treat. The problem is that nearly everything contains sugars and processed additives and preservatives, in a level we were never meant to consume.
The result of eating too much sugar affects things like focus, weight, ADHD, diabetes, and energy levels. So many health issues can be minimized or improved by focusing on a diet that limits sugars and processed foods and focuses on whole foods that are good for our bodies.
Which Version of This Recipe Should I Make: Indulgent or Healthy Peanut Butter Bark?
Personally, sometimes I make this recipe with sugar. It all depends on your current goals and what you’re trying to create. Are you trying to make a delicious treat for a Christmas party or something that will serve as a prize for eating healthy foods all week? Or are you making a tray of goodies you can eat without having to go off-plan or feel a sugar-crash after dessert? For many years, I’ve made Peanut Butter Bark with sugar-filled ingredients and feel almost addicted to them by the time our family eats the whole recipe. It’s so delicious!
This year, I wanted to try something new. I shared Healthy Peanut Butter Bark at an event with friends and lots of kids. Everyone loved the recipe! The kids kept coming back for more. I was surprised at how delicious they turned out without the usual ingredients. This goes to prove you can enjoy a perfect balance between enjoying treats and living a healthy lifestyle. This can make the difference in making healthy choices for years to come! Whichever version you make, I hope you enjoy this Peanut Butter Bark re
