Peanut Butter Cookie Bars

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Peanut Butter Cookie Bars are super easy and tastes like peanut butter cookies only in a bar form. Loaded with peanut butter, Reese’s peanut butter cups, and peanut butter chips. This is the ultimate dessert for peanut butter lovers!

PIN this Peanut Butter Cookie Bars recipe to try later!

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Peanut Butter Cookie Bars

If you love Peanut Butter Cookies, you will love these super chewy Peanut Butter Cookie Bars. These are actually even easier to make than regular cookies because you don’t need to do any rolling, scooping, or chill the dough.

Similar to a classic peanut butter cookie, these bars are made with simple ingredients and have the best texture. We triple amount of peanut butter flavor by loading these with creamy peanut butter, peanut butter cups and peanut butter chips! You might want to pair these with a cold glass of milk or scoop of vanilla ice cream for the ultimate dessert.

I made these bars for one of my best friends and her family and they were perfect for packing away in a paper treat box! They only require 10 minutes of prep work and 20-25 minutes of baking time so you can quickly make these for any occasion.

Some of my other favorite peanut butter desserts are these Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies, 5 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies, Peanut Butter Cup Cookies, Peanut Butter Energy Bites, Peanut Butter Muddy Buddies and Peanut Butter Stuffed Pretzels.

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Key Ingredients

• Peanut butter: Make sure to use creamy peanut butter such as Jif or Skippy brand that’s already stirred and has a little sugar already. I use Skippy’s natural creamy peanut butter but any creamy style will work. Be sure not to use a peanut butter that has oil sitting at the top if you use a natural peanut butter, it won’t work because it will be too oily.
• Sugar: We use both granulated sugar and brown sugar.
• Vanilla extract: Enhances all the flavors.
• Egg: One whole egg, at room temperature. This will help bind the dough together.
• Flour: All-purpose flour works great, but you can also use whole wheat flour. Just note the flavor will be slightly different. Always spoon and level flour when measuring it. Be sure not to scoop it out of the bag using the measuring cup. This way, you won’t accidentally measure out too much. 
• Oats: Adds a wholesome flavor and texture to the bars. Old-fashioned oats work best.
• Baking powder & baking soda: Used as a leavening agent.
• Peanut butter chips: Adds more peanut butter flavor.
• Mini Reese’s cups: You can half the miniature cups or quarter them. The super mini peanut butter cups will work great too.

How To Make Peanut Butter Cookie Bars

Prepare baking dish & combine wet ingredients: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a 8 × 8-inch or 9 x 9-inch baking pan with parchment paper or grease generously with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and peanut butter until combined. Add the sugars, vanilla extract, and egg and mix.

Combine flour mixture: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking soda, and baking powder.

Add the dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture: Beat together with an electric mixer or a wooden spoon, scrape the sides down often with a rubber spatula.

Add peanut butter cups and chips: Add in 3/4 cup of mini Reese’s peanut butter cups and peanut butter chips until combined.

Bake: Add the cookie dough batter to the prepared pan and top with remaining peanut butter cups and peanut butter chips. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is a light golden brown. The bake time may vary depending on your oven. Let the cookie bars cool for 5 minutes and then lift bars out of the pan and transfer to a wire rack. Once cooled, cut into 16 bars with a sharp knife. Enjoy!

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Perfect for any occasion: You can make them for birthday celebrations, Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Easter, baby showers, you name it…this sweet treat is perfect for all occasions. Add themed sprinkles for candies for different holidays such as red, white and blue M&Ms for the 4th of July or red and green sprinkles for Christmas.
• Portable: These bars are perfect for any occasion and can be transferred easily by placing them in an airtight container or ziplock bag. Pack them up for a picnic, party, lunch box treat, or bring them to work.
• Easier to make than cookies: You don’t have to worry about the hassle of rolling, scooping any dough, or icing any cookies. If you’re in a hurry, you just need less than 10 minutes of prep time in the kitchen. SO easy!
• No chill dough: You can make these cookie bars in less than 30 minutes and you don’t even have to chill the dough.

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Recipe Tips & Variations

• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars: You can add mini chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, or white chocolate chips to the cookie dough instead of peanut butter chips if you wanted more of a chocolate flavor.
• Use a sharp knife when cutting the cookie bars. 
• Chocolate drizzle: Add a chocolate or peanut butter drizzle to the top of the bars once they’ve cooled.
• Refrigerate the cookie bars for a few minutes before cutting the bars to get perfect cut bars. 
• Be sure not to over-mix the dough, this will prevent the bars from being soft and tender. 
• Do not over-bake these bars: You want the edges to be slightly browned, but not too much. 
• You can cut the bars into 16 smaller squares or 9 large squares. You can also cut them into rectangular bars or triangles. 
• Frosting: Top these bars with your favorite peanut butter frosting, chocolate frosting, or vanilla frosting for a sweeter flavor.

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Add-Ins

• M&M candies: Use the regular or mini sized candies.
• Sprinkles: Make this for a birthday or celebration by adding 1 cup of sprinkles to the cookie dough! If you love cookies over cake, make this into a birthday cake by adding frosting to the top and candles!
• Chocolate chips
• Reese’s pieces
• Peanuts: Lightly roasted peanuts or honey roasted peanuts make great options. Just be sure to give them a rough chop before adding them to the batter.
• Chopped up candy bars: Add any of your favorite bars.

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Leftovers & Storage

To Store: Cookie bars are always best when they are fresh but you can store any leftovers in the same baking pan, transfer to an airtight container, or large ziplock bag. They will keep fresh for 5 days or you can store them in the refrigerator for up to a week.

To Freeze: You can also freeze any leftover bars for up to 3 months. For best results, let the cookies bars defrost at room temperature when ready to eat. The best way to enjoy them is when they are at room temperature or slightly warmed.

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Other Cookie Bar Recipes

• Sugar Cookie Bars
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
• Funfetti Cookie Bars
• Shortbread Bars
• Yellow Cake Mix Cookie Bars
• Chocolate Oatmeal Bars
• Gingerbread Cookie Bars
• Peanut Butter Cheerio Bars

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