Peanut Chews

These chewy peanut butter munchies are a favourite in our house, and they're pretty simple and cheap to make, too!

Step 1: Ingredients

What you will need:

Rice Krispies or similar
Sugar
1 jar of smooth peanut butter, smallish size, probably 1lb but don't have any right now so can't check!
1 1lb (454g) can of golden syrup
Chocolate for coating, 8oz (225g) or so.

1 large saucepan
Spoon for mixing, easier with a metal one
Large tray, this one is about 12" by 18" (31 by 36cm)
Spatula, rolling pin or anything to smooth out a stiff mixture.
Greaseproof paper (baking parchment)
Some strong arms, either yours or borrow a pair from somewhere.

Step 2: Making the Chew.

Put all the peanut butter and syrup into the pan, scraping it all out, then fill up the syrup can with sugar and pour that in too.

Heat it while stirring over a low flame until the sugar has mostly dissolved and it looks as runny as it's likely to get.  Don't heat too fast or leave it to stand for too long because it will start burning on the bottom easily - you're not making toffee, just melting it all.
Beware, this gets very hot and will stick to you and burn if you try putting your finger in!  Don't be tempted to try any without cooling it first.

The nutty smell may attract raiders from the garden, have a peanut or two on hand to fend them off!

Step 3: Adding the Rice and Smoothing It Out.

Using the syrup can again, fill it up with Rice Krispies and tip them in.  Do this five times, but not all at once because it'll be pretty hard to mix without spilling rice all over the place.

Now mix it up!  It's a very tough job so this is why you'll need the strong arms... hopefully you managed to borrow a pair.  Keep going until all the rice is coated and it's an even mixture.

When it's done, line the tray with baking paper and tip the mix onto it.
Squish it roughly flat with a spatula or spoon and then use a rolling pin (or just the spatula) to get it as smooth as possible and covering the whole tray.

Set it aside to cool for a bit while you melt the chocolate.  Maybe take a short break if you think it (or you!) needs it.

Step 4: Chocolate!

Melt the chocolate the normal way over hot water, then pour it over the chew and make it even.  It might not look like you have enough but this amount is just right.

Done!  Leave it for a while to cool until it's ready to cut.

Step 5: Chop It Up, and Eat!

Now another hard part.  Score lines down the chocolate with a sharp knife and then slice it into squares.
This gets tiring quickly... I had a blister after doing several trays of this.

And that's it!  Except for the washing up.  This may look like a nightmare but it actually comes off very easily with just warm soapy water apart from any burnt toffee on the bottom of the pan, which will need chipping off with something.

These freeze well, and even taste good when frozen so don't count on them being safe in the freezer.  I've thought of other stuff like maybe adding small marshmallows with the rice but haven't tried it yet...

Enjoy!