No-Bake Treats for a Hot Summer Night

We love to entertain any time of year, but the summer is especially fun for seeing our friends with kids. The days are longer, grilling is easier and if the weather cooperates, we can walk to our local park for some kid-friendly fun.

With that in mind, we recently invited our friends Jason and Ashley to bring their two little boys over to our house for dinner and treats. I wanted to make a dessert that everyone would like, but it had been a blazing hot week and turning on the oven was NOT an option. So where do you go from there? A quick stove-top dessert is the ticket. I found this No-Bake Rocky Road Chocolate Bars recipe and quickly set to preparing it after work, and before their arrival. The prep was done in a flash, the house stayed cool, and the chocolate-peanut-buttery goodness was well received by all!

This dessert is "a piece of cake" to make and is a great alternative to the "run-of-the-mill" cereal bar-type recipes. To make No-Bake Rocky Road Chocolate Bars, start by combining the butter, chocolate chips and butterscotch chips in a 4-quart saucepan.

Cook over Low heat, stirring often, until the chips and butter have melted and combined.

Stir in the peanut butter until it’s well-mixed. (We used chunky peanut butter because it’s what we had on hand, and I knew it wouldn’t mess with the consistency of the bars since the rice cereal would already make them nice and crunchy.)

Once the peanut butter is completely mixed in, remove the pan from the heat and add the rice cereal. Try not to over-mix so the crunchiness doesn’t get too crushed.

Mix in the mini-marshmallows.

Finally, pour the whole "messy" combination into a greased or foil-lined 13x9-inch pan.

Use a spatula to press it all down so the bars are relatively even in depth and the ingredients will stick together. Cover the pan and refrigerate for 30 minutes so the chocolate can set.

After the bars have set, remove them from the refrigerator and cut them into hearty-sized portions.

Now it’s time to enjoy these with your friends – big and little kids alike!

Prepare No-Bake Rocky Road Chocolate Bars on your next hot summer night, then rate & review the recipe.

Check back in a few days when Lacey, the Test Kitchens summer intern, will share a back to school recipe.

Amanda is paid to write for the　Land O’Lakes Recipe Buzz® Blog.