No Bake Peanut Butter Caramel Bars

6 cups Rice Chex cereal
1 ¼ cups roasted, salted peanuts, roughly chopped
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
6 oz milk chocolate, roughly chopped

Grease a 9×13” baking pan and set aside. Put the cereal and chopped peanuts in a large bowl and use your hands to toss them together until well incorporated.
In a medium saucepan, stir together sugar and corn syrup and place over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil for a full minute, then remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter, vanilla and salt. Stir until the mixture is smooth and well combined.
Pour the mixture over the cereal/peanuts and use a wooden spoon to toss (be careful not to crush the cereal) until the cereal/peanuts are well coated by the sugar mixture. Scrape the mixture into your prepared pan, then press down to make sure the mixture is compact, again, be careful not to apply too much pressure, which would crush the cereal.
Let cool to room temperature, or you can speed up the process by chilling it in the fridge.
Melt the chocolate in a microwave or double boiler, then drizzle it over the bars in whatever pattern you’d like to use. Let the chocolate set, then cut and serve! Leftover bars can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week or so.