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!)
Can you use coconut flour ?
You can definitely experiment. Be sure to report back if you do!
These tasted good but were way to soft. The only way to really eat them was straight out of the frig. Any advice for making them firmer at room temp?
Have never had that problem personally, but there are two things you can do: 1 is to just bake longer. 2 is to leave them in the fridge overnight and they’ll firm up considerably the next day.
These were amazing! I turned them into a sundae by topping one with Ben and Jerry’s vegan coffee caramel fudge ice cream, wow! Just like a gourmet restaurant dessert.
Just made these today using Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour. Although they are still somewhat gooey, they have a wonderful taste – as in could eat half the pan tonight! Plan on refrigerating them and seeing if they firm up tomorrow. Terrific recipe!
They never really firmed up even after being refrigerated overnight. Maybe next time I’ll cook a few minutes longer. Nonetheless, they were still very tasty and I will make again!
What flour did you use for the images above?
What would happen if I used olive oil instead of applesauce?
I’ve never tried it, but be sure to report back if you do! Maybe you could also try more peanut butter instead…
Can I use chunky peanut butter or must it be creamy? I only have chunky in the house.
I made a batch of these a few days ago and they’re very yummy! I made a few changes though: I reduced the applesauce and increased the flour a tiny bit so that I could add an egg, because in my experience it makes the texture a little more spongy and less dense. I also mixed the chocolate chips in the batter instead of putting them on top, and baked them for about 20 minutes. I can’t wait to go home and eat another one tonight.
These are grrrrreat!!! Made mine with sprouted spelt flour, had to add the 2T of almond milk because the batter was really dry and crumbly. W00t!!! Ooey gooey to the max on day 1 : ) ! And absolutely, they do settle more on day 2, so not to worry (in case anyone’s worried–which I surely was NOT–could’ve eaten the whole pan the first day and still have to restrain myself!!!). Thanks Katie for another awesome recipe!
Just made these yesterday and they were fabulous. Very hard to not eat the batter, and even harder to wait for them to cool. After 20 min in the refrigerator they were still quite very gooey. We froze them and they are great straight from the freezer. It has more of a cookie hardness but still has the perfect mount of gooeyness.