Unless you can’t eat peanuts, who doesn’t love peanut butter bars?  They are so tasty and satisfying.  And they can be low carb as well.  Incidentally, if you happen to be one who can’t eat peanuts, but you can eat almonds, you can make this with almond butter also.

I’ve seen several recipes for these bars, but this one is based on the one from Dixie Diner(tm). Of course, they would like you to use their sugar substitute and flour in it, but it works with any of the options available. I used CarbQuick and  Ideal Sugar in mine. If you aren’t concerned about the quantity of carbs in your food, lucky you, then go ahead and make these with regular flour and sugar.

Crunchy Peanut Butter Bars

1 cup Skippy Peanut Butter or other 4 nc per 2 tablespoons
1/4 cup Peanuts, chopped
1/4 cup Low Carb Flour
1/4 cup Sugar Free Chocolate Chips (optional)
1/4 cup Sugar Substitute
2 Egg Whites (boxed will work)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F.) Prepare an 8×8 inch pan by spraying with baking spray or putting parchment paper on the bottom and spraying the sides with baking spray.

In a bowl, mix the peanut butter, egg whites, flour, and sugar substitute together until you have a nice, thick dough. Stir in the sugar-free chocolate chips if you are using them.

Spoon the dough into the baking pan and smooth with the back of a spoon. I used a 6×6 inch pan to get thicker bars, but it does make only eight bars, so higher carb’d ones.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the bars are golden brown. Let cool so they set up before cutting them into bars. To cut into twelve, cut across the middle of one side, then cut each section into three equal cuts. Then turn the pan and cut through the middle of the uncut side and you’ll have six long bars on each side of the middle cut.

If you chill them in the refrigerator, they will come out of the pan easier. You can also melt the sugar free chocolate chips with 2 tablespoons butter and use it as an icing on the top, if you wish.

Makes 12 bars.

Nutrition Information per bar:
Calories: 161.3 Fat: 13.3 g Net Carbs: 3.5 g Protein: 6.6 g

If you add in the chocolate chips, it adds about .2 grams of carbs to each bar.

Note: I specified Skippy Peanut Butter because I know that the carb count is 4 net carbs per 2 tablespoons and others are not. Some of the store brands (such as Wal-Mart, Raleys) are the same count. So check the net carbs to see that they are as low.