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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These are the best cookies I’ve ever had.
They’re my DH’s favorites too. That’s literally the only thing he asks for a father’s day gift, and it always makes him so happy to receive a batch of these nummy treats. 💙
Interested in trying these, just wondering how you keep them? In the fridge or in a ziploc at room temp?
Katie, these are absolute heaven!!
I ate one still slightly warm, 20 minutes out of the oven and they just blew me away! I used almond flour and Besti brown sugar substitute, plus mini chocolate chips because I can’t stand sugar free chocolate chips. One of the best desserts I’ve had in a long time!
Thank you!!
Try coarsely chopping 85% dark chocolate! It works great, tastes better than the zero sugar chocolate chips, and is keto safe.
I went ahead and tried these last night, adjusting the recipe to make it keto safe, and I was very pleasantly surprised!! I was skeptical, because most baked goods made keto safe turn out to be very crumbly with little taste. Not so here! I used Greek yogurt in lieu of applesauce (which has lots of carbs), Swerve sugar, zero sugar peanut butter, and zero sugar chocolate chips. I also threw in an egg and a teaspoon of guar gum to help with binding. I baked them 13 minutes instead of 10, just to make sure the egg was cooked, then I turned off the oven, moved the pan down to the bottom rack and left the door open to cool completely. Then I stuck the pan outside (it was -3° last night) for a few minutes just to make sure they were firm. They were sooooo goood!!!! I could’ve eaten half the pan! Had to make myself stop at two. For the people complaining that they are too sweet, try using the zero sugar peanut butter and yogurt instead of applesauce. Ours were not too sweet at all. This one’s a keeper for sure!!!
I made these and am SO HAPPY I did!!! This won’t be my last time. I did make some changes in ingredients. I had some leftover pumpkin puree in my refrigerator, so I used some of it to replace the applesauce (no noticeable pumpkin flavor after baking), and I replaced the vanilla extract with maple extract. My store-bought no-sugar peanut butter was too stiff to stir, but I combined 1/4-1/3 cup of very pourable unsweetened homemade peanut butter with store-bought, cutting out the heating step, and it worked perfectly. The sweetener I used was Truvia Brown. These are so VERY YUMMY, I plan to make another “batch”, possibly a double “batch”, to use my remaining pumpkin puree and freeze them for later. 😀 Thank you, thank you for sharing your fantastic recipes!
These are very good with a few adjustments. The batter was so stiff I added an egg instead of milk and the texture was perfect. Baking anything for 10 minutes does not work! The leavenings need time to work. Is it a typo? You say bake for 10 and rest for 20. I think it’s the other way around. No way these were close to being done at 10 minutes! More like 20 and they’re still gooey enough.