Next Post
This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.
Retro-style Lunchroom Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars…taking it back to grade school today with these DELICIOUS peanut bars. Picture a doughy buttery, peanut butter cookie base, layered with creamy peanut butter, and the most delectable, roll your eyes back good chocolate frosting that’s rich and fudgy. The added bonus is that these bars require only pantry staple ingredients and take almost no effort to make. They’re sweet, salty, heavy on the peanut butter, extra chocolatey, and every last bite is truly delicious. The perfect treat to enjoy as an afternoon/after-school/homeschool snack and for any upcoming fall gatherings with family or friends.
The truth really is that I love each and every recipe I share with you guys. I work endlessly to only share the best of the best with you guys. There are many, many…and I do mean many…recipes that you never see because they just aren’t good enough. The recipes I share with you guys have to be really good, so because of this, I love them all.
That said, I of course have some recipes I might favor slightly more than others.
Case in point, these peanut bars. It’s no secret that my favorite desserts include chocolate and peanut butter. That’s fairly obvious from the amount of peanut butter and chocolate recipes that can be found on the site. I could not love these chocolate frosted peanut bars more. If you could see me typing away, you’d see my excitement
It’s dorky, I know, but I love it when I really LOVE a recipe. That said, I have so many reasons why I love this recipe…and it’s not just about the taste.
So here comes the story.
I’ve been talking about this all week, but it’s back to school time, and for me, that brings back a lot of feelings. For as much as I hated school growing up, I always somewhat enjoyed this time. Back to school meant, new clothes, new supplies, and the excitement of the fall season ahead.
And also? Lunchroom desserts. YES, you guys know what I’m talking about.
For me personally, I never bought a school lunch. Mom always packed our lunches when we were younger. But the one thing we did always get to enjoy was pizza day. Oh, pizza day. If I’m remembering correctly, it only happened once a month (if not it seemed like it was a month!). It was a day we looked forward to all month long. We loved pizza day!
I mean of course, we got to eat cheesy pizza (yumm), but even better than the pizza?
The “lunchroom” desserts that came with it. Also known as the desserts that all the PTA moms would bring in. Enter the giant chocolate chip cookies and the generously frosted chocolate peanut butter bars. Again, yumm!
Today I took inspiration from my grade school days and really thought back to what I loved most about those “lunchroom” peanut bars.
They were doughy, heavy on the peanut butter, and frosted with the most delicious fudgy chocolate frosting. The frosting was a cross between fudge, frosting, and icing. Hard to explain, but I get the feeling many of you know what I’m talking about.
Who else enjoyed a good ole’ chocolate peanut butter bar on pizza day? Any of you? I can’t be alone on this one.
Lunchroom Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars…the details.
For once, this dessert didn’t take me forever to perfect. Though I did have to make the frosting about four times to get it JUST right.
These bars are easy…so easy…and very hard to mess up.
Start with the peanut cookie base. I used my favorite blondie recipe that’s pretty much foolproof. It doesn’t even require a mixer, just mix with a spoon and bake. So simple. As soon as the peanut bars come out of the oven, dollop them with a hefty amount of creamy peanut butter. The key is to add the peanut butter while the bars are still warm. The heat from the bars allows the peanut butter to melt into one even layer and make spreading the peanut butter out very simple.
Now let the bars chill completely.
In the meantime, make the frosting.
I have some words on this frosting.
When I set out to make these I had a picture of the frosting in my head and I needed to recreate that picture. The frosting needed to be thick and fudgy, but yet soft and almost runny. Think of a just set top that has glazed over and stiffened, but then underneath is fudgy, loose frosting.
Very old school, very vintage, that’s what I was going for. Like the kind of frosting your grandma would make.
Yummm (apparently, this is today’s word of the day. Just go with me on it).
What is the secret?
The mix of ingredients is basic…butter, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and milk.
So what’s the trick? Using warm to almost hot milk. The heat from the milk warms the butter and turns the cocoa powder into a rich creamy chocolate. It’s so hard to explain, but I promise, it’s beyond good. Just sweet enough, extra chocolatey, smooth, and very fudgy.
Once the bars are cooled, just spread the frosting over top. And that’s it, easy.
You can let the frosting set up or just cut and enjoy, preferably with cold milk, because that’s the best pairing with chocolate and peanut butter.
Nothing too fancy, but all things incredibly delicious.
I know that things look different this year. But whether you or your kids are heading back to the classroom, or just homeschooling, these bars make for the perfect dessert to enjoy anytime, mid-school day, after school, late night. They all work. Just bake, eat, and enjoy all the deliciousness.
And if your kids are home, these are easy enough for them to help bake up too!
Looking for easy “lunchroom” style back to school desserts? Here are a few ideas:
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Blondies
Giant Salted Espresso Hot Fudge Cookies
Lastly, if you make these lunchroom chocolate peanut butter 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!
Lunchroom Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars.
Servings: 24 bars
Calories Per Serving: 344 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) salted butter
- 2 cups creamy peanut butter
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Frosting
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter, at room temperature
- 2-3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup warmed milk
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9×13 inch baking dish with parchment paper.2. In a microwave safe bowl, melt together the butter and 1/2 cup peanut butter, stirring every 30 seconds until melted. Stir in the brown sugar, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. 3. Press/spread the dough out into the prepared dish. Transfer to the oven and bake for 18-22 minutes, until just set in the center. Remove from the oven and dollop tablespoon size spoonfuls of the peanut butter over the bars, lightly spreading the peanut butter in an even layer. Let cool completely. 4. To make the frosting. Add the butter, 2 cups powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and 1/4 cup warm milk to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until smooth, adding additional warm milk until the frosting becomes thicker, but still drizzly. Taste, adding more sugar if needed. Spread the frosting over the bars. Let set for 1-ish hour…or slice, snack, and enjoy!
Notes
To Make Gluten Free: Use an equal amount of your favorite gluten free flour blend in place of the all-purpose flour. I recommend Cup4Cup gluten free flour.
Storing: these bars keep well for 3-4 days at room temperature or in the fridge.
To cool the bars quickly for frosting: place in freezer for 15 minutes. Remove and frost.
To Bring Eggs to Room Temperature: place the eggs in a bowl and fill with warm water. Let sit 5 minutes.
My new favorite peanut butter recipe. The right amount of peanut butter and chocolate. They didn’t last long in my house!
Haha that is so great to hear! I am so happy you all enjoyed this!! xTieghan
These were so easy to make, and so delicious! I didn’t have powdered sugar or cocoa on hand for the frosting so I used hot cocoa mix instead and it turned out really well!
That is so awesome to hear! Thank you for trying this one, Teresa! xTieghan
We celebrated my granddaughters birthday Sunday and I made these for them. There favorite is peanut butter cups. They loved them and I also had pies for the adults They all went for these lol Really good Made Their day.
Happy Birthday to her!! I am really glad these bars turned out so well for you all! xTieghan
I just made these and though I love peanut butter and chocolate, this recipe is a little too peanut buttery for me. Next time I would probably omit the layer of peanut butter between the bar and chocolate frosting. Both frosting and cookie bar taste great!
Love to hear that! Thank you Nicole! xTieghan
My husband gave this a 7 out of 10. The bottom was not soft as anticipated, and I only cooked it for 18 minutes.
Hi Deana! Is there anything I can help you with for this one? xTieghan
Oh my gosh…these are delicious! They are rich but they are sooo good! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Thank you!! I am so glad you enjoyed this one! xTieghan
This recipe was such a big hit and pretty simple to assemble! Can’t really go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate 🙂
Thank you so much Demeris!! I am so happy this turned out so well for you! xTieghan
We loved these!! So easy too!
Love to hear that! Thank you Bailey! xTieghan
Made these and they were great! My husband absolutely adores them. I put the leftovers in the freezer and they are just as good!
Wow that is so amazing to hear!! Thank you so much for trying this recipe, Cheryl! xTieghan
This is a really delicious and decadent recipe! My family loved them and the bars were gone in a day! My son, an Uber chocolate lover asked if I could give the icing a deeper chocolate flavor….like dark chocolate.
Any suggestions on how I might make that happen?
Thank you for all your wonderful recipes.
Hi Patria! You could try using a dark chocolate cocoa powder or even add in melted dark chocolate to the frosting base. I think either would be a great option and delicious too! Hope that helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I am so glad you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
So good!!!
Thank you Courtney! xTieghan
made a half batch for an 8×8 pan. they turned out delicious! I used natural peanut butter where peanuts and salt were the only ingredients and it turned out fine. These were a lot richer than I was expecting! The fudge topping was my favorite part.
Thank you Sonja!! I am so glad this recipe turned out so well for you! xTieghan
These are fantastic. I’ve already made them twice! I cut them into squares, froze some individually, then wrapped them. They freeze great (mostly so I’m not tempted to eat the whole pan at once).
Thank you so much Laura! xTieghan
Hi! I’m planning to make these for my friend and ship them to her for her birthday… do you have any recommendations for how to wrap them/store them so they don’t get stuck together in the process? Love your recipes!
Hey Caitlin,
I would do these in an airtight container. Honestly, I am not sure how well these will travel when shipping, the frosting is very soft and could be a huge mess. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
These were a big hit with all my adult students. Will definitely make again, they went together quickly.
Love that! Thank you for trying this recipe, Dawn! xTieghan