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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Healthy Chocolate Pudding Recipe
(NO avocado, NO tofu!)
Because it still works and tastes fine if you leave them out. Duh.
You can use any 🙂
I really like Enjoy Life or Fair Trade brands, but I will use whatever I have on hand.
Is it true that these bars really have less than 3g of sugar per serving? They are delicious, but between the chocolate chips and the 2/3 cup of sugar I have a hard time believing the nutrition facts. And believe me I want to believe it! 🙂
Hi,
first, thank you for your lovely recipes (the black bean brownies are my favourite so far!). I was just wondering what kind of peanut butter you used in this recipe because I used natural peanut butter with no added ingredients (I’m not from the US) and they came out REALLY greasy, so greasy I couldn’t eat them, after trying a little bit. The fridge also didn’t help and I’m sure I used the right amounts. Does anyone have an idea what went wrong? 🙂
Hi Katie, I don’t have applesauce at this moment? Is there something else I can use instead of applesauce? Thanks!
Please help me but I think there’s no way that your macros/nutrition can be correct. I’m confused. One cup of peanut butter is (about) 225g or, 14 Tablespoons. The recipe calls for the bars to be cut into 12-16 bars. That is about ONE TABLESPOON of PB per bar… or 100 calories of PB alone without the other ingredients. Is there a typo somewhere? I just made these and I want to make them, but I don’t want to kill my healthy eating too! The macros I’m getting are nowhere close to what’s posted on here. Please clarify. Thx.
Tried this one out today, but I replaced the granulated sugar with honey! They are now cooling down, I hope they’ll firm up as nicely even with honey in it. Might try it out with granulated sugar, too, later.
Just made these, and all I have to say is…
All hail Her Chocolate-Covered Majesty Katie, Queen of Vegan Baking!
Hi,
Can you use Rice Malt Syrup instead of xylitol?
Just made it today. I’m still surprised it’s healthy and vegan! My mum liked it so much that I had to stop her because I was afraid she would finish the dough 😀