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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
Made these today. Super easy and very good!! Just the right amount of sweet! Wouldn’t change a thing…..
Love so many of your recipes!
Hey Elizabeth,
Wonderful!! Thanks a bunch for trying this recipe out, I love to hear that it was enjoyed!! ?xTieghan
I usually love HBH but something’s wrong with this recipe. I added the extra 1/4 cup of coconut oil to my cookie batter but there still was not enough moisture to even saturate the oatmeal so the final cookie base was barely edible. The chocolate/PB layer saves it but perhaps removing some of the oatmeal would help?
Hi Mel,
Sorry to hear the recipe was not enjoyed, thanks for making it. xTieghan
I want to make these but no a huge fan of coconut flavor… do they taste coconutty? If so what can I replace coconut oil with?
Hey Kendra,
No, they really don’t have much coconut flavor, but you can also use another neutral oil. Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope you love the recipe! xx
Made these today for our treat for the week. I cut the portions pretty small in the pan (it made a ton!) and froze some for next week, too 🙂 So tasty! The cookie part did get a bit crumbly, but I think I overbaked it by a minute or two. And I’m mad that I forgot to do flaky sea salt on top! Was going to make them again sometime for sure… now I have to, so I can try them with the salt. 🙂 Thanks for another tasty recipe, Tieghan!
Hey Jessica,
Fantastic!! I love to hear that the recipe was enjoyed, thanks for giving it a try. Have the best week:)) xT
Second go making these.. better this time but also good enough to try again and read directions more carefully! Very good
Question…can these be frozen and then brought out later to thaw? Makes a bunch!
Yum!
Hey Kate,
Fantastic!! I love to hear that the recipe was enjoyed, thanks for giving it a try. Yes, you can totally freeze these. Have the best week:)) xT
The oatmeal layer was super dry and crumbly. Extra coconut oil is probably not optional.
Hi Tami,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try, the oatmeal layer is meant to be crumbly, adding more coconut oil should help with that. xTieghan
I love HBH and many of your recipes are in rotation at our home. I saw this one and it looked and sounded divine. I subbed the maple syrup out for agave in the cookie layer because I didn’t have enough syrup for both layers. I don’t know what went awry because the cookie portion was so dry and sandy after baking. The taste is good, but not the texture.
Hi Jenna,
Thanks so much for giving the recipe a try, I’ve not tried this with agave so that could have been the issue, but you can try adding 1/4 cup additional coconut oil to the cookie base, it is meant to be crumbly:) I hope this helps! xxT
My freezer isn’t big enough to freeze a 9×13 pan. Can it just be refrigerated for 30 minutes?
Hi Karen,
I would pop in the fridge for an hour. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you give it a try!! xx
Can you use regular flour instead of almond
Hi Elizabeth,
Sure, that will work well for you! Let me know if you give the recipe a try, I hope you love it!! xTieghan
Can these bars freeze? Any tips to keep them fresh?
Hi Terri,
You can totally freeze these! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you give it a try!! xTieghan
The chocolate and peanut butter layers were very yummy. Unfortunately my oatmeal layer was way thicker then the other 2 layers and it was super dry and crumbly. Not sure what went wrong! Definitely recommend adding the extra coconut oil.
Hi Jayme,
Thanks so much for giving the recipe a try! The oatmeal layer should be thicker than the chocolate and peanut butter layer:) xTieghan
Delicious oat meal cookie I loved this recipe i have used True Elements Rolled Oats and the final product was so amazing.
Hi there,
Thanks a bunch for giving this recipe a try, I am so glad to hear that it was a hit!! xTieghan
Could avocado oil be substituted for the coconut oil? Coconut oil is very high in fat.
Hi Sandra,
Sure, any other neutral oil will work for you. Let me know if you give the recipe a try, I hope you love it!! xTieghan
I thought these were so good. I was hesitant about them when reading some of the not so good feedback back about them being crumby and not like the pictures but I am addicted. I always make these things for my fiance but who am I kidding, they’re really for me. I love all half-baked harvest recipes and I seriously can’t wait to make these again. I’m thinking almond butter instead of peanut butter next time!
Hey Brielle,
Awesome!! Thanks so much for making this recipe, I am so glad to hear that it was enjoyed!! xx
Absolutely delicious!!!!
Hi Karen,
Awesome!! Thanks so much for making this recipe, I am so glad to hear that it was enjoyed!! xx