Chocolate Peanut Butter Cracker Bars

You only need 4 simple ingredients to make these no-bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cracker Bars...

I don't normally post new recipes on the weekends, but this weekend is the exception. Because today would have been my friend Joan's (aka, Chocolate, Chocolate and More) 50th birthday. 

Some of you all may remember me talking about Joan last October shortly after she died. Though I didn't know Joan well and only had the opportunity to meet her in person once, she had such a huge impact on who I am as a food blogger. 

And I think the same can be said for pretty much every single food blogger who was lucky enough to have known her. She freely shared her knowledge of the blogging business and social media world with all of us. She believed that we should build each other up, & not always be in competition with one another. 

She taught many of us that we are worth far more than we give ourselves credit for sometimes. And she was a sweet soul who didn't see you in terms of follower numbers or page views, but rather as a kindred spirit who also loved sharing delicious recipes & their love for chocolate with others as much as she did.

So, today myself and other bloggers from across our food blogging community are celebrating Joan's life and honoring her memory in the best way that we know how- by sharing some of her time tested & amazing recipes with you all. And let me just say that browsing through Joan's extensive list of recipes & trying to choose just one to share today was no easy task, folks. ;) 

But I finally ended up zeroing in on her Chocolate Peanut Butter Cracker Bars. I mean, can you blame me? Just look at these scrumptious bars! 

Blackberry Lemon Almond-Oat Bars

These Blackberry Lemon Almond-Oat Bars are just like your favorite blackberry crisp but in a deliciously plate-free/fork-free form...

**Updated with new photos 8/1/16.

I am coming at you all today with another delicious dessert recipe perfect for Mother's Day weekend.  These Blackberry Lemon Almond-Oat Bars are sweet with a hint of tart lemon. They are just like your favorite blackberry crisp but in a deliciously plate-free/fork-free form.

Blackberry season always evokes for me memories of my childhood picking wild blackberries with my mother and grandmother.  We would dress in long sleeves and pants (even in the heat of summer) and drive out to a spot that my grandmother had been told of. Then we would spend hours picking the sweet, juicy blackberries off the bushes into our buckets.

Okay, so not all of them actually made it into my bucket.... and my purple hued teeth and tongue may have given me away at times. ;)

But I have fond memories of foraging for the perfectly sweet ripe blackberries growing along the hillsides and thickets of my wild and wonderful West Virginia.

Those berry picking trips would result in pints of homemade blackberry jam from my grandmother and my mother's homemade blackberry pies which we all clamored for.