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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 sweets.
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.
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.
Great recipe! I have made it twice & will keep this recipe as a favorite!! When I make it I make half a recipe… 12 bars which is plenty!?
Hey Rosa,
Wonderful!! I am thrilled to hear that this recipe was a winner, thanks so much for making it! xT
I just made these delightful bars and wow, they are super delicious. I sprinkled some nuts on top with the sea salt, and my goodness they are yummy!! Thank you for another great recipe.
Hey Carla,
Wonderful!! I am thrilled to hear that this recipe was a winner, thanks so much for making it! xT
These bars are amazing!!! Super easy to make and a huge hit!
Hey Ashley,
Fantastic!! I am so glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a lot for making it! xTieghan
I made these last Sunday, and although they’re tasty, my oatmeal cookie layer rose too much and is very crumbly, so you just have to eat the bars in pieces. I wonder if more coconut oil (3/4 cup) or less baking soda (2 tsp.) might help.
Hey Judy,
Fantastic!! I am so glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a lot for making it! Yes, for less crumbly bars you could add 1/4 cup of coconut oil. xTieghan
I really wanted to love this recipe because they looked so good! But they did not turn out well. I used regular flour because I thought it would be better than the GF almond flour. I think this recipe just calls for too much flour as they were entirely too dry and crumbly. I know they are meant to be this way but they wouldn’t hold together. I made them for a party and most people just ate the top layer and threw the bottom away. Love other HBH recipes though!
I also used regular flour, and I think I should have cut it in half and/or baked it less than 25 minutes.
I also should have doubled the peanut butter layer because mine was nowhere near as thick as the pictures.
Otherwise, I think these would be amazing!
Hey Hannah,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try. The recipe is based on almond flour which requires more than all purpose flour. Also, the oatmeal bar is meant to be crumbly:) Let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Loved the recipe, it was a big hit. However, some bites of the cookie base had a slightly weird taste, thinking from the baking soda. Did anyone have any luck modifying the cookie base? I definitely will make them again and double the chocolate and peanut butter layers (or at least the peanut butter layer) but I’m hoping someone has some suggestions to make the cookie better!
Hey Liz,
Fantastic!! I am so glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a lot for making it! Sorry to hear about the weird flavor! xTieghan
Not super sweet but is so good! My cookie layer was a tad crumbly but not terrible and I loved it. It was moist too. I did use a 8×11 to make them thicker ❤️ LOVE HBH!!!
Hey Ali,
Awesome!! Thanks a lot for making this recipe, I love to hear that it was a hit. Have the best week:) xx
I’ve made so many of your recipes and absolutely loved them, but this one didn’t work well for me. Like many others, the bottom layer completely fell apart, didn’t even make it out of the pan without completely crumbling. I know you keep saying it’s supposed to be crumbly, but the video of yours shows the bar completely together and it doesn’t even crumble when you take a bite so clearly many of us went wrong somewhere. In your expert opinion, is there a common amateur mistake that might cause this type of thing? Over mixing, or over baking, or a certain ingredient we should check our proportions on? I really appreciate all the hard work you put into your recipes, and I recognize I must have made a mistake somewhere (despite following the recipe with no changes!) Just looking for some potential insight if you have any. Thanks!
Loved these so much!!!!! Yes, the bottom is crumbly, but that’s how it’s supposed to be. Making them for the second time tonight for company tomorrow. Thanks, Tieghan!!!
Hi Kim,
Awesome!! Thanks a lot for making this recipe, I love to hear that it was a hit. Have the best week:) xx
Cookie layer was thick and dry, crumbled when cut and hard to eat. Flavor combo is delish. Maybe half the almond flour?
Hey Susan,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try, the oatmeal bar is meant to be crumbly:) xTieghan
So they do taste yummy and they aren’t too sweet which I like. The problem is that they didn’t hold together at all. I will try them again but I will be freezing the final stage for a much longer time!
Thanks so much for giving the recipe a try Stacy!!
Not one of my favorites, I’m sad to say. I love the concept…chocolate, peanut butter and oats. Yum! Unfortunately the oatmeal cookie base was just way too DRY. It actually held together well but lacked flavor and moisture. The chocolate peanut butter topping was yummy but we will probably just throw away. It’s all good, I’m a huge fan of HBH and not all the recipes can be winners.
Hi Bri,
Thanks so much for giving the recipe a try, sorry to hear it was not enjoyed. xTieghan
i can’t say enough good things about these bars! I love the crumbly cookie part and then the smooth creamy peanut butter layer… and then of course the chocolate? and I love that they are healthier.definitely will make again!
Hey Kaila,
Awesome!! Thanks a lot for making this recipe, I love to hear that it was a hit. Have the best week:) xx
My experience was very similar to the other reviewers.
The ratio of ingredients just seems a bit off, resulting in a soft, crumbly bottom and layers that don’t adhere to one another as well as they should. If I make these again, then I’ll probably add some brown sugar to the oat bottom, and maybe reduce or completely remove the almond flour to make it a bit harder/ chewier. I’ll also increase or double the ingredients for the peanut butter layer since it’s super thin as others have commented.
HBH is my go to for dessert recipes since they are typically so fantastic, so hopefully this is just a one off!
Hi Mary,
Thanks so much for making the recipe and sharing your feedback. All of the measurements are the same and the bottom portion is meant to be crumbly:) Let me know if you try it again with adjustments! xTieghan
Such a good combo, perfect snack for the kiddos. I doubled the peanut butter part because of comments I saw saying it was too thin. Turned out great. The bottom is a bit crumbly but not enough to need adjustments. Maybe it has to do with the type of oats used?
Hey Lacy,
Happy Sunday!! Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed!! The bottom is meant to be crumbly:) xTieghan