Next Post
This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.
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
What is the pink sprinkled on some of the bars?
Hi Nancy,
It’s dried, edible flowers. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
What a great idea! Thanks!
I just baked the cookie layer…perfect amount of dough for a 9 x 13 dish. I used 1 cup of coconut oil. It smells and looks fantastic!
Awesome!!
Can you use regular flour and oil cuz don’t have the other kind
Hi Doris,
Yes, that is fine to do. I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
Actually when you print the recipe it has 1 cup dark chips- and in Step 1 it says to fold them in? On the printed version….
Hi Claudia,
You may have printed the recipe before it was adjusted. Please follow the recipe as written now, it has been fixed. xTieghan
There is no mention of when to add the sea salt. That should be added.
Hi Barb,
You can add that right at the end:) xT
Not our favorite – the bottom was very bland, and crumbly as others have mentioned. I used honey roasted freshly ground peanut butter for the middle layer to add a little sweetness, and dark chocolate chips on the top – those layers were tasty. More of a breakfast than a dessert.
Also I used an 11×7 pan based on comments that 9×13 didn’t seem like the best choice. It worked well – the layers look like the pictures.
Hey Bethany,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try, sorry to hear it was not enjoyed, the bottom is meant to be crumbly:) xTieghan
I saw others had this issue – but the bottom layer was VERY dry and crumbly. 2 cups almond flour and 2.5 cups oats seems like a lot of dry:wet ratio. I followed the recipe exactly so unsure why they didn’t turn out chewy? Recommendations on what ingredients to tweak? More egg or oil? Measure the oil before melting? I would cut back on the flour if made again…
Hi Joanne,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try. You could use more oil, but the cookie base is meant to be crumbly. Let me know if I can help in any other way! xTieghan
Easy to make and soooo delicious! My cookie layer was not as crispy as many other’s suggest, but I did undercook it a little to try to avoid this. This is a new favorite!
Hey Treena,
Fantastic!! Love hearing that this recipe was a hit, thanks for making it:) Have the best day! xxT
These sound amazing. I’m looking for bar cookies to take to a memorial. After reading the comments, I’m not sure that these would be best in an unrefrigerated situation (they would be out of refrigeration for 24 hours). What do you think? Maybe another bar cookie?
Hey Andrea,
I think these hold together best when kept chilled so I am not sure these would be the best option for you. Here are some other ideas:
https://fett-weg.today/christmas-mm-cookie-bars/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> https://fett-weg.today/salted-cookie-crinkle-top-brownies/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> https://fett-weg.today/healthy-ish-chocolate-chip-cookie-bars/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> I hope this helps! xTieghan
Can I substitute regular flor for the almond flour? Will that change the recipe too much?
Hey Katie,
That should be just fine for you to do! Please let me know if you give the recipe a try, I hope you love it! xTieghan
Can I use something other than almond flour?
Hi Dana,
Sure, GF flour would work well for you here. Let me know if you give the recipe a try, I hope it turns out amazing for you! xTieghan
I read through comments before making this and I ended up adding the extra coconut oil to help soften the cookie (1 cup total). It still was quite crumbly but it tasted amazing!
Thanks so much for giving the recipe a try Samantha!!
Made this yesterday and am enjoying it today with my morning tea 🙂 I halved the recipe and it turned out great! I echo some of the others who mentioned the oatmeal bottom is a bit crumbly, but it doesn’t bother me as I’m eating with a fork anyway. Next time I’ll make more of that yummy peanut butter center! Thanks Tieghan!
Hey Lindsay,
Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed! xxT
How long can you keep in the fridge- up to a week?
Hey there,
Yes, 1 week is great! I hope you love the recipe, let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
Thank you! Bottom came out a bit crumbly, but they are still very tasty!
Hey there,
Fantastic!! Love hearing that this recipe was a hit, thanks for making it:) Have the best day! xxT
Loved these! Such a great treat that I don’t feel too bad about having more than 1. ☺️
Hey Stephanie,
Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed! xxT
I would give this 5 stars buy I made a few (unintentional) modifications. I ran out of peanut butter so I used a mix of peanut and cashew butters. Then after adding the top chocolate layer, I cracked some pink Himalayan sea salt all over before refrigerating 6 hours, then letting sit at room temperature for 2 hours before cutting and serving. Easy to cut, no major crumbles of the oatmeal cookie section and overall delicious.
Hey there,
Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed! xxT
Love your recipes. This one was ok. I think it will go better with a more crunchy mix. The oatmeal part got very crumbly and the peanut butter mix kind of absorbed into the oatmeal crust. The chocolate on the top was delicious. Thank you 🙂
Hey Cristina,
Thanks so much for giving the recipe a try. Next time, add 1/4 cup more oil to make the cookies less crumbly. I hope this helps! xTieghan
I made these with creamy natural almond butter. They were delish! Gluten free, no dairy – they were like health food – well, almost! Really wonderful. The chocolate sort of holds each bar together, but they do benefit from refrigeration for that too. I do wish the almond better layer was thicker like her picture, and the oat cookie layer was a bit crumbly. Everyone loved them!
Hey Linda,
Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed! xxT