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Retro-style – but updated, Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars. Think doughy, buttery oatmeal cookie base, layered with creamy peanut butter, and sweet salted chocolate on top. All made with simple, wholesome ingredients: oats, pure maple syrup, natural peanut butter, and dark chocolate. They’re sweet, salty, heavy on the peanut butter, extra chocolatey, gluten-free, and butter-free. Every last bite is truly delicious.
When I think of February, I think Super Bowl Sunday, and then of course, Valentine’s Day. This year, we have the Olympics which makes things even more exciting. I’m sharing a couple appetizer recipes next week that will be great for viewing your favorite winter sport as well as the upcoming Super Bowl too. Lots of fun things this month!
For some reason, when I think of the Super Bowl, I always think of chocolate and peanut butter together. I’m sure it’s because I’m from Cleveland. Ohio is the Buckeye State, which means we all love our chocolate/peanutty treats.
These bars are one of my favorite chocolate-peanut buttter combos yet. They’re somewhat inspired by my lunchroom peanut butter bars. But also by the Twix bars I shared a couple weeks ago. I took elements from both and incorporated them into this recipe.
What’s awesome is that they’re naturally gluten-free, butter-free, and have no added sugar other than pure maple syrup! We’re all loving the more wholesome desserts right now.
Start with the oatmeal cookie
I based this layer off of my mom’s oatmeal cookies, but made things less sweet. Just some oats, almond flour, and maple syrup with eggs and vanilla.
I also used coconut oil in place of vegetable oil, something I’ve been doing for years.
Then, just bake the cookies until set. They taste buttery and perfectly sweet, but with no butter or sugar!
The peanut butter layer
Simply just peanut butter, maple syrup, and coconut oil boiled together to thicken the mix. The secret to making this layer really delicious is to use a peanut butter with just peanuts and salt. Don’t use a no-stir peanut butter that contains oils and/or sugar. You just want a natural peanut butter. This will give you the best flavor and texture.
Pour the peanut butter layer over the oatmeal cookies, then freeze the bars. You only need them to freeze them for 30 or so minutes. This helps the peanut butter set up quickly.
When the peanut butter is chilled and stiff, pour some melted chocolate overtop to finish the layers up. My one piece of advice here is to slice the bars before the chocolate top becomes too hard. This will make the bars much easier to cut and prevents the peanutty filling from getting squished out.
The final review? Slightly chewy and crumbly on the bottom, with the creamiest peanutty filling – that’s perfect salted. The chocolate top adds a nice “crack” with every bite.
Delicious! And great for parties too since these can really feed a crowd!
Looking for easy party desserts? Here are a few ideas:
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Blondies
Homemade Vegan Peanut Butter Twix Bars
Caramel Butter Cake with Fudgy Chocolate Frosting
Lastly, if you make these Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars
Servings: 24 bars
Calories Per Serving: 322 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Watch the How-To Reel
Ingredients
Oatmeal Cookies
- 2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
- 2 cups almond flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Peanut Butter Mix
- 1 cup, plus 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter (just peanuts and salt)
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 12 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
- sea salt
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a 9×13 inch baking dish with parchment paper. 2. To make the cookies: In a mixing bowl, beat together the oats, almond flour, baking soda, salt, coconut oil, maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla. Press the dough into the prepared baking dish. Bake 25-30 minutes, until lightly golden. 3. To make the peanut butter mix: In a medium pot, mix 1 cup peanut butter, the maple syrup, and coconut oil. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook 2 minutes, then remove from the heat. Pour over the oatmeal cookies. Freeze 30 minutes, until firm. 4. Melt together the chocolate and 1/3 cup peanut butter in the microwave. Let cool 5 minutes and then spread the chocolate over the peanut butter mix. Return to the fridge to set, about 10 minutes, then slice. The chocolate will not be totally set, but slicing is easier this way. Keep in the fridge.
Notes
If the Cookie Dough is Dry: add 1/4 cup additional melted coconut oil to moisten it.
This post was originally published on February 4, 2022
Just made these yummy bars! Subbed Just Egg for my vegan family and they loved them so much!
Hey Martha,
Happy Sunday!! Love hearing that this recipe was a hit, thanks for making it!! xxT
What is the chocolate for in the bar portion of the recipe?
Hi Erika,
The chocolate is used in step 4:) Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope you love the recipe! xTieghan
I’m confused where the chocolate listed for the cookies portion goes. Can you explain?
Hi Sarah,
The chocolate is used in step 4:) Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope you love the recipe! xTieghan
Hi- I am wondering where the chocolate chips in the oatmeal cookie ingredients come in? Do you add those in with the oatmeal cookie base, or are they melted with the other chocolate for the top? I didn’t see any mention of them other than in the ingredients. Thank you!
I have the same question can’t figure out if chocolate is supposed to go in all parts, but looking at the picture I am assuming it just goes on top? What did you do?
I skipped the chocolate altogether in the first part and just did the chocolate for the second part where you mix it with the peanut butter. I’m almost done, they are looking good!
I hope you love the recipe Chelsea!!
Hi Lisa,
The chocolate is used in step 4! Please follow the recipe as instructed:) xTieghan
Just made these. I only made 1/2 of the oatmeal cookie because I didn’t want a whole 9×13 pan. I also wondered about those chocolate chips. I added some to the cookie. I made all of the pb layer and all of the pb/chocolate topping although I didn’t use it all. It was good. The cookie was a bit crumbly but moist.
Hey Shelley,
Happy Sunday!! Love hearing that this recipe was a hit, thanks for making it!! xxT
Hi Chelsea,
The chocolate is used in step 4. Please let me know if you have any other questions:) xTieghan
Just made these and I think you’ve got an error in your ingredient list… you’ve got chocolate chips on the list for the cookies, but I don’t think they are meant to be there…. I added them without realizing haha guess mine will be extra chocolatey!
I thought the same thing! I kept looking back at the recipe…I ended up adding some dark chocolate chips to the oatmeal cookie base as well. Can’t go wrong there I suppose!
Hi Brie,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try! No error, the chocolate isn’t used until step 4. Please let me know if you have any other questions!! xT
What would you recommend substituting for the coconut oil? I have some, but not sure it’s enough and I do not plan on replacing it since its a bit pricier than my budget currently allows.
Thanks!
Hey Sam,
You can use an equal amount of melted butter. Let me know if you give the recipe a try, I hope you love it! xTieghan
For those of us with almond allergy, is there a replacement for almond flour?
Hi Carol,
You can use GF flour. Let me know if you give the recipe a try, I hope you love it! xTieghan
What can I use instead of almond flour? My daughter has a tree nut allergy.
Hi Cheryl,
You can use GF flour. Please let me know if you give the recipe a try, I hope you love it! xTieghan
Could you use almond butter instead of the peanut butter? Thanks so much!
Hi Mendi,
Yes, that should work well for you! Please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
These sound absolutely amazing! I need to follow a lower sodium diet-could you use almond butter in place of creamy peanut butter?
Hey Kara,
Sure, that will work well for you. Please let me know if you give the recipe a try, I hope it turns out amazing for you! xTieghan
Any specific brand of peanut butter?
Hey Nicole,
Nope, whatever you like to use will work well for you! I hope this recipe turns out amazing for you, let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
This is probably the first HBH that I’ve made that turned out badly, and I’ve made many. Some of this may have been my fault – for the cookie base, I substituted AP flour and butter instead of coconut oil, but otherwise did everything as written. The cookie base was really dry, and the proportions were way different than shown in the picture. The base rose more than shown and the peanut butter layer was not as shown – barely visible and not enough to overcome the dryness of the base. Same with the chocolate layer – not at all the amount shown in the photos. Oh well, I still love the blog.
You can’t substitute gluten flour with gluten free flour such as almond and expect the same result ?
Teigen says below that regular flour and butter may be substituted ??♀️
Can you half the recipe if you don’t have this big of a pan?
Yes, half the recipe and use a 9×9 or 8×8 pan. The layers might be slightly thicker than the original.
Totally!
AP flour and butter are a pretty drastic substitution. Both of those things bake so much differently than the ingredients listed in the recipe. Hence why you got a much different result.
My cookie base puffed WAY up also. I also added an additional 3/4 Pb to the filling and it still wasn’t enough. I think the measurements are off
Hi Dana,
The measurements are not off:) Please let me know how I can help for next time:)
I’ve done some research as I only have all-purpose flour at home and it says if you choose to use all-purpose over almond flour, you should you one cup of all-purpose flour for every two cups of almond flour. I am going to try that theory out and hope it works!
https://www.laurafuentes.com/almond-flour-substitute/
Hey Lisa,
Thanks so much for giving the recipe a try, sorry to hear it wasn’t enjoyed! xTieghan
So excited to try! Will quickoats work the same as the old fashioned
Hey Rae,
So sorry you will want to use old fashioned oats for this recipe. Please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
Sounds good – I found some in my
Cupboard from your monster cookies i forgot I made!
Also wondering if i can use regular kraft smooth peanut butter or if that messes with it too much?
Totally, that will be great to use!!
Do you think these would freeze well? Looking for freezer friendly recipes to take to a new mama!
Hey Steph,
Yes, totally!! I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
Can you use regular flour and vegetable oil in place of the coconut oil and almond flour. Or could you use applesauce inplace if the oil.
Hi Joanne,
Yes, regular flour will work and you can use vegetable oil or butter in place of the coconut oil. I hope you love this recipe. please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan