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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.Â
These bars are DELICIOUS. I ended up not having enough maple syrup and only had bittersweet chocolate instead of dark, but they still turned out great. I did add the extra 1/4-cup coconut oil as recommended in the comments and the cookie base turned out great. I cut the recipe in half and it all fit perfectly in a 8×5 loaf pan.
Hi Erica,
Wonderful!! Love to hear that this recipe was a hit, thanks a lot for giving it a go:) xTieghan
When do you put the sea salt on the oatmeal peanut butter chocolate bars?
Hey Marsha,
You can sprinkle on top once the chocolate is set. Please let me know if you give the recipe a try, I hope you love it! xTieghan
Love these bars!! They remind me of a Girl Scout Do-si-dos. They have just the right amount of sweetness.
Next time I will be cutting the crust recipe in half, it’s too thick for us.
Hi Jake,
Awesome!! I am thrilled that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks so much for making it! Have a great week:) xx
I haven’t made this recipe yet but I have baked a lot with almond flour and all recipes with almond flour are going to be crumbly. Most recipes with almond flour use at least 3 eggs so maybe adding an additional egg would help the base be firmer. I am going to give it a try because I love everything about this recipe! Thank you for all the great recipes and good luck with your new cookbook.
Thanks Debbie!! I hope you love the recipe!! xTieghan
Very disappointed. The recipe did not say to chill the peanut butter which might have helped. I think it sunk in the oatmeal cookie. More like a dry cake. The chocolate is not cheap. I used exact ingredients and followed the directions. Chocolate didn’t harden.
Hi Jeanne,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try, sorry to hear it was not enjoyed. You do not need to chill the peanut butter, the recipe would say so. For the chocolate to set you need to allow it to sit in the fridge. xT
I love HBH, but this one may not be my favorite, which is OK. I used half butter half coconut oil for the base. Base is crumbly but can still cut in bars, the Pb layer is thinner than expected, may need to double. Thankful for new recipes to try!
Thanks for trying the recipe and sharing your feedback Tiera!! xTieghan
My daughter shared the recipe. This are delicious. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Hi Debbie,
Awesome!! I am thrilled that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks so much for making it! Have a great week:) xx
This recipe is incredible – so super easy and has quickly become a favorite!! I did not have any issues with the oatmeal/almond flour base. You truly have so many incredible recipes, excited to try more!
Hi Rani,
Happy Sunday!! I love to hear that this recipe was a hit, thanks a lot for giving it a try! xxT
2 hours and a waste of time. Added additional oil to the base and still turned out cakey/ powdery and not dense like photos and IG video gives off. If you’re thinking about making this don’t.
Hi Jessica,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try, sorry to hear it was not enjoyed. xTieghan
Really delicious! I made these this week. I upped the coconut oil in the cookie layer by about 1 tblsp and that was enough to hold them together. Will definitely make them again.
Hey Janet,
Thank you so much for giving this recipe a try, I am so glad to hear it was enjoyed! Have the best weekend:) xT
I made these tonight and they taste divine but the cookie dough was very wet when I put it into the pan. I couldn’t press it in to make it a firm base. So when it bakes it is more cake like instead of cookie like. I guess I was expecting a firmer base like a Twix. This barely holds together. What can I do to make this more bar like? The flavor and taste is yummy.
Hi Megan,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try, sorry to hear you had issues. The bar should not be anything like a Twix:) You could add 1/4 cup more coconut oil for a less crumbly cookie. I hope this helps! xTieghan
Agree with everyone else here — saw this on IG and was amazed at how good it looked but was disappointed with how it turned out. Very crumbly (but not in a good way) and the oatmeal base tasted a bit off. It’s more of a breakfast or lunch meal than a dessert.
Hi Emma,
Thanks so much for giving the recipe a try, so sorry to hear it was not enjoyed! xTieghan
I had to make these after seeing the photos. However, mine look nothing like the pictures. I have a very thin line for each the PB layer and chocolate layer. The photos depict something VERY different. I don’t know why the recipe was changed for the posting. The thick PB/choco layers are why I wanted to make this recipe.
Hey Julie,
Thanks so much for giving the recipe a try, sorry to hear you did not enjoy it. The recipe was not at all changed, this is exactly how I made mine:) xTieghan
My grandchildren love these. Seriously addictive and said they are like crack. LOL
Hey Donna,
Happy Friday!! LOL too funny! Thanks a bunch for giving this recipe a go, I love to hear that it was enjoyed!! xTieghan
Omg these are delicious! The sea salt on the top brings this to the next level. My oatmeal layer is a little crumbly, but I found it has tightened up a bit after being in the fridge. Overall, a great recipe! Thank you!
Hi Katy,
Wonderful!! I am thrilled to hear that this recipe was a winner, thanks so much for making it! xT