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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.
Split the recipe in half and made it in an 8×8 inch pan and it worked well! Didn’t have coconut oil so I used melted butter and it worked out perfectly!
Hey Annie,
Happy Sunday!!💕 Thanks so much for trying this recipe out and sharing your feedback, so glad it was a hit! xx
The bar part is crumbly.
I’d like a gooey bar part
The filling needs to be more too.
I’ll try again with adjustments
Hey Ruth,
Thanks for trying this recipe out and sharing your review, sorry to hear it wasn’t a fave, let me know if you give it another try!! xx
These did not turn out well. As other posters have said they were very dry like eating sand. I liked the Pb and chocolate topping but idk how much I can eat of the cookie base. Really needs more liquid or fat or less flour IMO.
Hi Christa,
Thanks for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback. It’s working for some but not for others and I’m not exactly sure why. A glass pan might be helpful to use here! xT
So I just made this for the first time today. It took me much longer than I expected. However, it was worth it!! I did not have almond flour so I used gluten free flour. After mixing everything together, I saw that it was a little dry. Keeping in mind what others said about it being a little dry I decided to add the extra 1/4 of coconut oil and it did make it a lot more moist. Instead of dark chocolate I used semi-sweet chocolate chips. slightly over melted the chocolate but it still tasted great. The only part that I would do differently next time is to let the chocolate completely chill and then cut it with a big knife. I did not wait for the chocolate to cool and it kind of messed up the peanut butter and chocolate.
I also should note that I did not use an aluminum pan but instead used a glass pan. Not sure if that changes the consistency of the oatmeal.
These were amazing and I will definitely be making them again!!
Hey Vanessa,
Wonderful!! Thanks so much for trying this recipe, I love to hear that it turned out well for you! Thanks for sharing your feedback! Have a great weekend:)
I really would love to try these (they were a childhood favorite!) but my husband can’t have almond flour. Any good substitute?
Hey Jennifer,
A gluten free flour blend should work well for you! Please let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xx
These were amazing very very tasty everyone LOVED them thanks ! My daughter and I have been followers of your Instagram for many year. Every Christmas for the past 4 years she buys me your cook books 😍 We have made countless recipes together such great memories thanks
Hey Leslie,
Happy Friday!😁 Thanks so much for making this recipe, I am so glad to hear it turned out well for you! xx
I wanted to love this but it is very dry.
Hi Amy,
Thanks for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback, so sorry to hear it was dry for you. Let me how I can help! xx
These bars were an A+. Honestly, pretty confused by some of the other comments because for someone who needs to follow instructions to a T for my baking skills not to fail, they were perfect. I actually enjoyed the cookie base having texture from the oats, and I did let the peanut butter layer freeze a little longer, along with the chocolate cooling, to make sure it all set together before cutting. They are decadent without the guilt – and my peanut butter/chocolate loving husband couldn’t tell that they were “healthier”. Thanks!!!
Hey Leah,
Happy Wednesday!! Thanks a bunch for making this recipe and sharing your comment, I love to hear that it turned out well for you! xx
What do you think the outcome would be if I substituted PB2?
So sorry, I’m really not familiar with PB2 so I can’t say what the results would be!
These were such a disappointment. Despite following the recipe to a T, the oatmeal cookie base was dry and flakey, broke into crumbs when attempting to cut squares. The peanut butter and chocolate layer ratios are off, or the pan size is wrong. Used an organic brand of creamy peanut butter (just peanuts and salt) as suggested, waited for the cookie base to cool and still ended up with a much thinner layer than pictured. The chocolate layer is the same. The peanut butter layer separates from the cookie crumble and what’s left is a waste of time and a giant mess.
Hi there,
So sorry to hear that this recipe did not turn out for you. This recipe was tested several times before posting with these exact ingredients and instructions so I’m not sure why it is working for some but not for others. Again, sorry for the trouble! xx
Hello!
I made this recipe today and turned out great. Yes, the base is a little crumbly but I liked it. If the recipe is followed right nothing should go wrong! I am not much of a dessert maker, in fact very bad about it most of the time. But today I really want to make this because it is extremely easy. So l did and the result was amazing. Thank you!
Hey Didem,
Awesome! Thanks so much for making this recipe! I’m so glad to hear it was enjoyed! xx
These were ok… agree with the other comments that the base is pretty dry. My 3.5 year old (who I baked these with) did not like these and he likes most anything with chocolate! I do like the idea of these and will probably experiment with a different base – maybe a graham crust.
Hey Allie,
Thanks for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback! Sorry to hear you didn’t love this one! Let me know if you change up the crust! xx
ok, I normally don’t post comments but I am because the reviews aren’t great. I made these per the instructions (only change was I used local honey instead of maple syrup) and I think they are absolutely delicious! And I don’t feel so guilty eating them. My husband has been eating them as a breakfast bar, and I’ve been eating them as dessert even though I think they give a nice energy boost. also the coconut oil keeps them so moist. I love this recipe and will be making on a regular basis. Question- do you know if these are freezable? Thanks!!
Hey Brittany,
Happy Monday!! I appreciate you giving this recipe a try and sharing your review, so glad to hear it turned out well! Sure, you could totally freeze these! xT
Hi again,
I just made these this afternoon. I did not read the comments before I made them, but I had a similar experience.
I did not use almond flour, but I did use a combination of GF flours- but it got very high and puffy. So, the oatmeal base layer is rather dry, thick, and dense. The second and third layers are fabulous and make up for the base layer.
I’m not sure if I’d make it again- unless there’s some modification-but I like that you used ingredients that are more “healthy” than my typical baking 😉 .
Hey Debra,
Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback! The base layer is definitely crumbly. You could try using a glass baking dish next time to see if that helps at all! xT
This is not good. The peanut butter layer is not how you present it and you never address it when asked.
Hi Michele,
Sorry to hear you did not enjoy the recipe. I’m not sure what to say regarding the peanut butter, I tested this recipe as written several times before posting, so I’m not sure why it is working for some but not for others:) Have a great Monday! xx
Very we’re very delicious and easy to make. Not sure why so many negative comments but mine turned out just like the picture and it fast soooo delicious. I had two this morning lol, so filling that I did not eat anything alas afterwards. Thanks you
Hey Natalya,
Amazing!! So glad to hear that this recipe was tasty and thanks a lot for trying it out! xT