Looking for an easy no-bake recipe that you can make with the kids? This Chocolate-Covered Peanut Butter Ritz Cracker Cookies recipe is so easy, fast, and delicious!
Happy Spring!
These days call for simple, no-bake recipes. Cute and colorful cookies. And this recipe is one of my personal favorite EASY cookies to make.
Now, most of you know, I've been cooking in the kitchen with my mom and great-grandmother (my Lola Epyon) since I was a teeny tiny tot. While they mostly cooked savory food, like Filipino Chicken Adobo, Macaroni Salad, and Lumpia, my mom was also the queen of crazy jello cakes and simple, yummy cookies. This cracker cookie recipe is one of the cookies I remember making with her when I was younger. When my own kids were old enough to hop onto a stool and help me bake, they started helping me make these cookies too!
These no-bake cookies just require three ingredients likely already in your pantry. They're SUPER EASY and fast to make. The best part: they taste delicious!
What you need to make these cookies
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Tools & Equipment:
You only need a few tools to make this Ritz cracker cookies recipe:
- Wax paper to
- Butter spreader or plastic knife
- Microwave-safe bowl to melt the chocolate
Ingredients:
- Ritz crackers - I always use the standard Ritz crackers for this recipe. But, you could use any round saltine-type of cracker for this recipe. But be sure to avoid the super thin crackers, as they will be more likely to break while spreading the peanut butter.
- Peanut butter - using creamy peanut butter is preferred, but if you love chunky peanut butter, I say go for it! You could also easily substitute almond butter or sunflower butter.
- Semi-sweet baker's chocolate - chop up a bar or two of baker's chocolate as they are made to melt well for baking. If all you have at home is a bag of chocolate chips, you can certainly melt those, but chocolate chips contain ingredients that help them retain their shape. Therefore, they are more finicky when trying to melt them.
- Sprinkles or other cookie/cupcake toppings - these are optional, but especially if you have kids, these are a fun way to add some color or have the cracker cookies fit a certain theme. Here's a link to my favorite sprinkles which are the ones you see in these photos. I love these because not only are the colors gorgeous in person (perfect for spring!), but they also taste better than other sprinkles I've tried.
A note about ingredient amounts
You can make as few as one of these Ritz cracker cookies or as many as 100 (or more!) at a time. I've included rough estimates for the amounts to use to make 20 of these Ritz cracker cookies. The amounts will vary depending on how much peanut butter you want to put in, and how well-coated you want the cracker cookies to be.
Tips for making these cracker cookies
The full instructions are below in the printable recipe card. Here are some additional tips to help you find success with this recipe!
- Set out your ingredients and equipment first, in the order you will use them according to the recipe. Chefs call this mis en place - French for "everything in its place." It helps make the experience so much faster.
- Use anywhere from one teaspoon to one tablespoonful of peanut butter. If you use too much, it will be harder to dip. The peanut butter will squish out, making for an even messier scene.
- As mentioned above, make sure you use melting chocolate or baker's chocolate bars. These are made to melt smoothly, unlike chocolate chips.
- Use a small butter spreader or plastic knife to spread the peanut butter. Don't attempt to do this with a sharp-edge knife.
Kid-friendly tasks to help make this recipe
Depending on your child's/children's age(s), they may be able to do some or all of this Ritz cracker cookies recipe on their own. Since they were very little, my own kids have helped:
- Counting out the crackers for us to use. Put those math skills to work!
- Spreading the peanut butter onto a cracker. Very young children can use a plastic knife or small butter knife to do this.
- Dipping the sandwich cookies into the chocolate. This can get very messy, so be sure to keep a towel handy. Younger children also have a tendency to squeeze the cracker cookies while dipping, so I like to advise them to gently place one cracker cookie sandwich onto the bowl of melted chocolate. Then use a rubber spatula to *gently* fold chocolate over it. Then when they pick up the cookie, they can gently catch any sides or parts that are uncovered with a quick dip into the chocolate on those areas.
- Choosing and adding the sprinkles. Choosing which sprinkles to use is always a fun job for little ones! Because the cookies are already on wax paper to allow the melted chocolate to set, it makes for easier cleanup as the paper catches stray sprinkles.
Best ways to store these cookies
These will keep in a closed container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for about 3-5 days. But honestly, if your house is like mind, they won't last that long if you have kids in the house!
More Baking Recipes
Chocolate-Covered Peanut Butter Ritz Cracker Cookies
Equipment
- knife
- Wax paper
Ingredients
- 40 Ritz crackers or other round crackers
- 1 to 1-½ cups creamy peanut butter
- 8 - 16 ounces semi-sweet or unsweetened baking chocolate, roughly chopped
- sprinkles (optional)
Instructions
- Spread some peanut butter onto the unsalted, flat side of a Ritz cracker. Top with a second Ritz cracker to form a sandwich. Set those aside on a plate.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt some the baker's semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave at intervals of 20-30 seconds, stirring in-between until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Dip each peanut butter Ritz cracker sandwiches in the melted chocolate.
- Place dipped crackers onto wax paper.
- If decorating, immediately add sprinkles or whatever other toppings you want to the top. Do this before the chocolate sets.
- Place the chocolate coated peanut butter cracker sandwiches in the refrigerator and chill until the chocolate has hardened, around 2 to 5 minutes.
Notes
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This post was originally published on January 22, 2012. It was updated with new photos and more helpful recipe tips on March 20, 2021.
snow says
So cute! This makes me want to try a sort of inside-out s'mores version...graham crackers with some sort of marshmallow fluff or spread dipped in chocolate...mmmmm, right?
Marlynn Jayme Schotland says
Hey thanks, Snow! You could definitely do this s'mores style!