Ooey gooey chocolate chip peanut butter bars…
The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars
These chocolate chip peanut butter bars are one of the top most popular recipes on my blog – and for very good reason!
When you need a recipe that both meat eaters and vegans love, these bars are an absolute must-try, because they will never let you down.
Of every dessert I’ve ever made, these peanut butter bars are still one of my go-to recipes for parties, because they’re easy to transport, get rave reviews even from guests who aren’t into healthy eating, and you’re pretty much guaranteed no leftovers by the end of the night.
People go crazy for the soft, gooey, peanut buttery texture and melty chocolate in each delicious bite, and they taste like the lovechild of a chocolate chip cookie and a Reeses peanut butter cup!
*There’s now also a chocolate brownie version, so be sure to try the Brownie Batter Bars!
Above – watch the video of making the peanut butter bars!
The peanut butter bars can be:
Vegan
Keto
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Sugar Free
Egg Free
Grain Free
Soy Free
Paleo
And Oil Free
(For high-protein peanut butter bars, make these Protein Bars.)
Homemade Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars
With chocolate and peanut butter, is it any surprise how good these are?
If Nestlé and Hersheys were to collaborate on a dessert, I’m pretty sure they’d come up with something along the lines of these gooeylicious chocolate chip peanut butter bars.
The recipe was originally adapted from my Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies, and I’ve changed it over the years to make it even better (which I didn’t think was possible, because the original was so good!).
Below is the newest version, which now includes a keto friendly option for those who need it. Everyone should be able to enjoy these crazy delicious peanut butter bars!
(Above, bringing the bars to a party earlier this year. They did not last long!)
If you want a bigger batch, try the popular Ryan Reynolds Blondie Bars.
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup applesauce, or yogurt such as coconutmilk yogurt
- 1 cup peanut butter OR allergy-friendly alternative – nut-free recipe here
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp flour – you can use spelt, white, sorghum, oat, almond, even or buckwheat (50g)
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar of choice or xylitol
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips, optional
- up to 2 tbsp milk of choice, only if needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8-inch pan, or line with parchment. Gently heat nut butter if not already stir-able, then stir in the applesauce and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, stir baking soda, salt, flour, sugar, and chocolate chips. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and keep stirring—it will seem very dry at first, so you’ll need to break up the nut butter and stop occasionally to scrape it off your spoon. If needed, slowly add up to 2 tbsp milk of choice as you stir. Don’t add more milk; it will eventually get gooey like cookie dough. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Smooth down evenly. (I press a second sheet of parchment on top to smooth, then remove this sheet.) Press some chocolate chips into the top if desired. Bake 10 minutes. When you take the peanut butter bars out, the top will look set but they will still be very undercooked underneath. This is okay! Leave them to cool for at least 20 minutes, during which time they will firm up. (They also firm up even more overnight.)View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
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(NO avocado, NO tofu!)
These look so fudgy and fabulous! Does it get any better than peanut butter and chocolate? Nope.
Do your nutrition facts include sugar or xylitol? I wonder that every time you post a recipe! Thanks!
This is precisely the query I had 🙂
This page ought to answer your query! https://lett-trim.today/faq-page/recipe-questions-and-troubleshooting/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
THIS IS MY SWAMP
I WOULD STICK MY BIG MAC INTO THAT
I miss reviews about the actual recipe.
I am excited to finally make this, I think I pinned it 3 times or so 😀 There is so much awesome stuff here, it is hard to pick just one! Maybe I will do a dessert a day. Well, every few days 🙂
Wow, I can’t believe how allergy free this recipe is – they look like the white sugar + white flour baking my grandma does!! Amazing, can’t wait to try!
Jill
Just want to let you know i really appreciate the sharing of your recipes… i am thankful i can find especially lots of chocolate recipe because i apparently am allergic to processed sugar.. we use coconut palm sugar insted… this makes me so happy to see that i dont have to try and modify recipes among being sick etc…i cant pay extra right now… I didnt feel quite comfortable not letting you know what a help your site is to us… Thanks from the bottom of my heart:) I dont like the publicity of sharing my details in public with you.. so thats why my name isnt all there.. sincerely glo 🙂
Thank you! 🙂 🙂
I know this is two years plus later, but I hope Glo knows that a lot of us do share personal stuff, especially health stuff on the internet and it is cool to not want to share your name all of the time. But if you find the right people and places online, there is a lot of support!
I too am really grateful, I mentioned that on FaceBook. But on my friend’s account! Well we are both grateful, especially since we both have parents who love junky food and really need healthier alternatives to the “regular” snacks, treats and desserts too. (I have been watching what my Dad, who survived a heart attack 5 years ago but is addicted to Pepsi and cookies from Subway! Anyway, I decided to see what his foodie vices are and I think this recipe will be awesome for Fathers Day!) Now if anyone knows how to get someone un-addicted to Pepsi… I am all ears! I see him up in the middle of the night, drinking from the bottle and then “Why can’t I sleep?”. So as you see it is a challenge! But I have CCK so I feel very well armed! This is my very favorite blog.
Kombucha. Kombucha. Kombucha. It BREAKS soda addiction (well, and prayer 🙂 There are SOOOOOO many amazing recipes for ALL taste desires.
TO: lily m — I WAS A SODA DRINKER FOR 56 YEARS. 100% SODA THEN I READ WHAT WAS ACTUALLY IN THEM … I QUIT COLD TURKEY THE NEXT DAY… IT WAS AWFUL HEADACHES, ANXIOUS , AND AGRIVATED ABOUT EVERYTHING FOR ABOUT 3 DAYS I STARTED DRINKING WATER, WITH A PIECE OF FRUIT IN IT. AFTER THE HEADACHES STOPPED FROM THE SUGAR WITHDRAWL I STOPPED WANTING IT ALONG WITH LARGE AMOUNTS OF FOOD THE MORE YOU DRINK THE MORE YOU WANT TO DRINK AND OR EAT. THERE IS NO EASY WAY TO STOP DRINKING THEM , BUT IF HE KNEW WHAT WAS ACTUALLY IN THEM HE
MIGHT STOP LIKE I DID… HE MIGHT AS WELL DRINK POISON ITS REALLY ABOUT THE SAME THING IF YOU LOOK AT WHAT IS IN THEM- ONE SODA HAS FLAME RETARDENT IN IT WHY WOULD A SANE PERSON DRINK THAT? ONLY BECAUSE THEY DONT REALLY KNOW WHATS IN THEM . HOPE YOU CAN TELL HIM FROM ONE SODA LOVER TO ANOTHER …. KICK THEM TO THE CURB AND LIVE LONGER! HE WILL FEEL BETTER, SLEEP BETTER AND BE ALOT HAPPIER ONCE HE IS OFF THE PEPSI.
And the caramel coloring ( supposedly) dissolves heart tissue! Eek!
Dr. Gundry says soda water (Pellegrino) and 2 TBL of balsamic vinegar mixed (add ice to make it cold) is a great substitute for soda. Also the balsamic vinegar has heart healthy polyphenols. Dr.gundry.com check it out.
Nothing is better then chocolate and peanut butter together!
Is there anything that I can switch instead of applesauce? Would an egg work?
Thanks
http://www.southernfolly.com
You can try the zucchini bars instead. No applesauce, and the base recipe is the same: https://lett-trim.today/2014/11/03/chocolate-chip-zucchini-bars/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
The recipe is vegan this way, so egg would make it not. Isn’t applesauce more a sub for a lot of oil, helps keep the fat lower?
I still need to look up those zucchini bars, my family loves zucchini bread, but ho-lee cow are they full of oil and fat. and you think you’re eating healthy since it has veggies 🙂 Looking forward to checking that out as well!
it wouldn’t be vegan but I have taded out oil zucchini bread and banana bread its yummy and cuts a lot of calories
ok last comment a blooper I have used greek yogurt instead of oil in banana and zucchini bread recipes its good
Can I use coconut oil instead of applesauce while I’m doing low carb? I saw you can also use zucchini which I would LOVE if I had one on hand…. but I want to make this ASAP!
I tried using ground flax seed replacement in place of the applesauce and it turned out delicious!
How much flax and water each did you use to replace the applesauce?
I’m all for anything chocolate and peanut butter! Love the combination.
These look AMAZING!!! Looks like I have baking plans for this weekend!
Can this be doubled and put in a larger dish?
I’ve not tried, but if you experiment then be sure to report back!
I worry the scant 1/4 cup of flour + 2 tbsp wasn’t enough. I’m trying to double the recipe to.make a full 13×9 pan but it doesn’t look like it will fill the small pan much less the big one?
A double recipe barely fit the small pan and the taste is overpowered by baking soda, I would definitely cut back on it.
Unfortunately doubling a recipe in exact amounts doesn’t always work.
I agree. Mine needed at least 1 cup flour to balance the cup of peanut butter.
I have definitely doubled this recipe and put it in a larger baking dish–it turned out very well! I needed to cook it for slightly longer (than when I made the original recipe in a single dish), but the cooking time will depend on the size of your dish and thus the depth/thickness of the batter to fill it, and the material of your container (I found it took longer to cook in Pyrex than metal). I found cooking it until the edges were golden brown to be perfect.
Katie OMG how did you do this:) This is a have- to – make for people who do not belive in vegetarians.
Dear Katie,
First off, thank you for this recipe, Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars. I just made up a batch using buckwheat flour. They are fantastic!
I have a few questions :
1) Do you know if these bars freeze well?
2) I would like to make and ship them cross country to my daughter. Do you think they would hold up well during that postal trip? Sometimes it takes a good week for her to receive a package that is sent.
Thank you!
JoAnn
Thank you Katie.
I’ve not tried freezing but would love to know if you do. I would think they’d ship okay as long as you do priority mail and omit the chocolate chips if it’s not traveling to a cold location.
Hi Katie and all,,,, I did freeze them first and shipped them flat rate priority (US mail) from NY state to WA state. They arrived 4 days after shipping and my daughter said, “They are fantastic and send me the recipe!” Not dried out. Not crumbled and the chocolate did not melt.
If you’re in the US, flat rate priority boxes from USPS are great for this!! I just sent a batch of cookies and lemon bars to my grandma (she loves my baking, not the other way around..) from DC to Seattle and they arrived perfectly within 2 days! I used glad plastic containers filled with popcorn to package everything safely.