Homemade Payday Bars

Payday bars are one of my favorite candy bars out there. They're chewy, salty, sweet, and crunchy, which are all essentials for snacking in my opinion. I had homemade payday bars for the first time while tailgating at a Penn State game and knew I had to make them myself. The only difference between the homemade bars and the store bought variety is the addition of mini marshmallows. In my opinion, adding fluffy mini marshmallows to the recipe makes this snack even better. The original recipe for homemade payday bars can be found here, below is the recipe with just a few minor changes that I made.


Homemade Payday Bars

16 oz salted dry roasted peanuts (a 50:50 mix of honey roasted and dry roasted peanuts is also delish)
1 bag peanut butter chips (approximately 2 cups)
3 Tbsp butter
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (10.5 oz) bag mini marshmallows
flaked sea salt for garnish (optional)


1. Coat a 9x13 pan with baking spray then coat the bottom of the pan with half of the peanuts, set aside.

2. In a large microwave safe bowl, heat peanut butter chips and butter in short intervals until melted (in 30 second intervals this takes about 2 minutes depending on the power of the microwave). Stir in sweetened condensed milk until smooth and heat for 1 minute more.

3. Fold marshmallows into peanut butter/milk mixture until evenly coated, then pour over peanuts in the 9x13 pan.

4. Spread remaining nuts on top of the marshmallow mixture, pressing nuts lightly to make them stick. Garnish with optional sea salt and chill for about an hour. Cut into 1.5" x 1.5" squares and serve.

 You can keep these in the fridge for at least a week and they taste just as good as the day you made them. 

Enjoy!