Best Peanut Butter Bars Recipe

Several peanut butter bars on a countertop.

5 from 5 votes

Best Peanut Butter Bars Recipe

These peanut butter bars have a soft, chewy peanut butter oatmeal cookie base, a chocolate layer, and a super creamy peanut butter butter cream on top. They are the best peanut butter bars ever!

Prep Time15

Cook Time10

Total Time25

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: peanut butter bars, peanut butter chocolate bars

Servings: bars

Author: Elena Davis

Ingredients

Cookie Layer:

¾ cups butter softened but not melted
¾ cups granulated sugar
¾ cups brown sugar
¾ cups peanut butter smooth or crunchy, depending of preference*
2 eggs at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cups flour
½ tsp salt
¾ tsp baking soda
1 ½ cups rolled oats

Chocolate Layer:

1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Frosting Layer:

1 cup powdered sugar
¾ cup smooth peanut butter
¾ cup butter softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup milk

Instructions

Cookie Layer:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees f. Grease a 12×17 in cookie sheet or jelly roll pan, or use parchment paper to line the pan. Set aside.
Wet ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, cream together on medium speed (using a hand or stand mixer) butter, sugars, peanut butter, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
Dry ingredients: Sift flour, salt, and baking soda into the creamed mixture. Mix well to combine, scraping down the sides of the bowl once halfway through.
Add oats. Mix together until combined (cookie dough texture). Press the dough onto the prepared baking pan sheet until it forms a uniform layer on the bottom of the pan.
Bake at 375 F for about 10 minutes until slightly golden on top. Turn off the oven.

Chocolate Layer:

Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the cookie layer and place back in the warm oven (that is turned OFF) for 2 minutes.
Take out the cookie sheet and spread the warm chocolate all over the cookie with a spatula or knife- creating a smooth thin layer.
Place in fridge to let chocolate layer harden a bit.

Peanut Butter Frosting Layer:

In a medium mixing bowl cream together (using hand or stand mixer) the powdered sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and milk.
The end result should be a uniform creamy peanut butter buttercream.
With a spatula gently spread the frosting over the chocolate layer after the bars and chocolate have cooled completely.

Notes

Storage:

Storage: Keep your bars covered in an airtight container on the counter for 5-7 days. Some rimmed baking sheets come with a plastic lid that is perfect for just this sort of occasion. Or, you can just cover them with plastic wrap once the frosting has dried and firmed up a bit. You can also keep the bars in the fridge or freezer and serve them chilled, if you prefer.

Freezing: These freeze great for 2-3 months. For easier storage, I recommend slicing and separating the bars, then freezing them individually for an hour to set the frosting. Then you can transfer them to a freezer-safe container and stack them so they don't take up as much space in the freezer.

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