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
Currently Trending Recipes:
Healthy Chocolate Pudding Recipe
(NO avocado, NO tofu!)
I couldn’t stop thinking about these after seeing the pictures, and I made them as soon as I got home from work. They did not disappoint! I used a mixture of almond and peanut butter to finish up the jar, and they turned out great.
If I were to make this again which I probably won’t I would definitely omit or at least greatly decrease the baking soda. I can taste it in the bars and it didn’t do much to make it will rise. I’m not really sure why this recipe calls for so much baking soda…
OMG THESE ARE DANGEROUS. I just ate about 1/4 of the batch.?
hey, I found ur site accidentally on pintrest. I don’t trust the recipes that I found through pintrest but I’m gonna bake these bars and let u and ur reader like me to know the result 🙂 seems so simple and so yummy
i made this and it was super Yummy thx for sharing 🙂
Wonderful! I only added 1/2 the sugar and used buckwheat flour. They turned out amazingly.
These are delicious! Yum yum… Thanks!
Hi! I love this recipie! I’ve made it a couple times now but recently I’ve had to go on a special diet for health reasons and had to cut out the applesauce. I saw you recommended the zucchini bars but I didn’t have any on hand. So I replaced the applesauce with sweet potato, turned out great! Just wanted to let you know! Keep up the delishishness you amazing lady!!
I didn’t let the peanut butter cool off enough so it melted my chocolate chips and turned it more into brownies. Maybe add to make sure peanut butter is cooled first.
Will this work with powdered peanut butter? Thank you!
I absolutely love this recipe!! The chewy, gooey bars with the peanut butter and chocolate flavours are AMAZING!! I am making today again. When I want cookie this is what comes to my mind. Yummy