Sunday desserts - No-Bake Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cookies

Last week, Caitlyn put in a special request for these 'cookies' to be our next dessert.  I've been making them forever.  My mother made them before me; she probably made them at least a hundred times.  We all loved them, and they are so easy.  They always make me think of her.

When my mother turned eighty, my sisters and I gathered for a visit at Mom's house.  I baked a pound cake, and several varieties of cookies to take with me and make it a party.  It was a nice day.

We used to talk every couple of days on the phone, and after everyone left, and she had the house to herself again, we were talking on the phone one day when she said how good everything was that I had brought, and would I please send her the recipe for those peanut butter and chocolate bars.  I told her I would, but that I was sure she had it somewhere since it was her recipe first.  She assured me that she had never made them or even tasted them before, but they sure were good, and she would like to make some sometime.

For me, that was the saddest day of our long goodbye.  She was such a good cook, and she had many recipes committed to memory, but she had come to not even recognizing an old favorite.  

Today the cookies are still being made, they are a favorite of a new generation, and Mom is still living in our hearts and traditions...and taste buds.

No-Bake Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cookies
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (about two sleeves)
2 1/3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 10 ounce bags of chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk chocolate)

Melt butter in a mixing bowl.  Add graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and peanut butter, and stir until mixed thoroughly.  Press the peanut butter mixture into a 9" x 13" pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.  

Melt chocolate chips and pour over the peanut butter layer, and spread evenly with the back of a spoon. 

Done!

Allow to set at room temperature for a couple of hours (or in refrigerator for no longer than 30 to 40 minutes) before cutting into squares.  Store covered at room temperature.