No-Bake Peanut Butter Marshmallow Squares

This recipe is totally ridiculous. And insanely sweet. Like, cartoonishly so. They should require a Surgeon General’s warning and an appointment with your dentist. It’s the kind of snack you make at sleep-away camp, or with your mom, following a recipe you tore from the pages of Highlights. It’s goofy, easy, and strangely delicious. They’re fun in your mouth. It would be a perfect treat to make for a kids Halloween party. The marshmallows look like tiny ghosts! Plus, they should probably only be consumed by people whose teeth are going to be imminently falling out. And while I did not find them in a dusty old Junior League of Chebeague cookbook, they are somehow totally and completely Maine. Malcolm has already written eloquently about the no-bake phenomenon here. The baked goods, or, in this case the unbaked goods of a region -  the squares and bars and cookies and brownies sold at Church rummage sales and high school basketball games – is what gives a place soul. You might find these at St. Brendan The Navigator’s annual Christmas bazaar, in between a hand-painted nativity set with a light-up Baby Jesus and a collection of wooden spoons dressed up to look like Ukranian peasants with handkerchiefs for skirts and pipe cleaners for hair. Please enjoy these very silly squares in moderation!

No-Bake Peanut Butter Marshmallow Squares
Adapted from a recipe on How Sweet It Is

Ingredients:

• 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• 2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 1 11 ounce bag butterscotch morsels
• 2 10.5 bags mini marshmallows
• cooking spray

Method:

Prepare a 9×13 inch pan with vegetable cooking spray. In a large pot over low heat melt butter and peanut butter. Pour in the butterscotch chips, stirring constantly until you have a creamy consistency. Remove from the heat and let stand, about ten minutes. Mix in the marshmallows and spread in the pan. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Tagged as: christmas, dessert, gluten-free, peanut butter

About the Author: Jillian Bedell

Jillian grew up in Connecticut, went to university in Boston, college in New Haven, did some post-grad soul searching in New York, exiled herself to Mexico, married her longtime sweetheart, and lived in a house on the ocean. She suspected Maine might be the perfect place to raise a family, so she came back home to New England two years ago. Now a mom to Violet Maeve and living in Rockland, where she hopes to settle for a good, long while, Jillian reads, writes, walks, and practices Nia, when not watching Malcolm photograph sandwiches.