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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.
The top two layers were yummy, but the bottom one was kind of flavorless. Reminded me of a grainy bread. I think this would be way better with a regular blondie cookie base.
Very disappointed in these. The oatmeal cookie layer was crumbly and just fell apart. When I baked it it was not dry either. The whole bar was lacking flavor. Would not make again.
Hi! I’m so sorry these didn’t turn out for you! Thank you for letting me know! xT
Sub oat flour, it works great!
Since I can’t have almond flour, I subbed it with oat flour (ground up oats in my nutribullet).
I also didn’t have eggs, so I used flax eggs instead, and did half maple syrup and half honey in the cookie part. They turned out great!
Hey there! So glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you so much for giving it a try! xT
Proportions are off, way different than the pictures (slim layer of PB and chocolate, 1 inch layer of cookie in a 9″x13″). Cookie is bland and crumbly. Nice idea but not a great recipe. I’d cut the cookie mix in half, add more fat, and use coconut oil in the chocolate rather than the peanut butter mix.
I totally agree with the proportions being off. One cup of peanut butter does not create this thick filling layer as pictured in a 9 x 13 pan. Not a great recipe and I feel I wasted a lot of ingredients!
Oh no! So sorry this recipe didn’t turn out for you! Thank you for the input
I have a family member who is gluten-free and I’m always the one to bring dessert to gatherings. I have a tried and true gf dessert recipe that everyone loves, but I decided to stray from that and try something new. Enter this recipe. I followed the recipe as it was written, but I used melted butter instead of melted coconut oil. This recipe was somewhat labor-intensive and I was excited to taste it. Sadly, the cookie base separated from the peanut butter and chocolate layers, which was disappointing. My boyfriend enjoyed his piece, as long as the base layer and the top layers were in the correct proportion. I didn’t love my piece. I feel like I can taste the baking soda in the base layer, which was a turn off. I brought some to my family anyway, and I received 2 reviews: my gf cousin said it’s not her favorite but it was good, and another family member enjoyed it. So, mixed reviews, I guess. I don’t think I’d make this recipe again, though.
Hi Kathryn,
Thanks for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback! So sorry to hear it was not enjoyed! Please let me know if there is anything that I can help with! xx
Kathryn, Would you mind sharing your tried and true gf dessert that everyone enjoys? Our family is also learning how to find recipes all will enjoy with a gf family member. Thank you if you get the chance to respond!
Maple Syrup is Sugar. If you check you will note that both have the chemical formula
C12H22O1.
Be factual – Stay credible.
otherwise – great recipe
Delicious yet had the same issue as others which the oatmeal cookie falling apart.
Maple syrup is NOT refined sugar. I appreciate these recipes because there are many of us that can’t have the bleached cane sugar.
Please is there a sub for almond flour. The one thing we can’t eat. Love your recipes and this looks amazing.
Sub oat flour, it works great!
Although the oatmeal batter was in no way dry, it refused to hold together. My peanut butter and chocolate layers separated from the base layer. It seems the amount of oats and flour versus fat is off compared to your oatmeal cookiess.com. I am happy it’s gluten free
Hey Patty! I’m so sorry about that! xT
Hi,
This recipe looks amazing☺️ I was just wondering how long do these last in the fridge for?
About 4-5 days! xT
Can I use regular butter(melted) instead of coconut oil?
Yes, you definitely can! xT
Hi there!
Could I substitute the peanut butter for sunflower seed butter? I know the consistency is different so not sure? My son allergic to peanuts! Thank you in advance for your kind response!
Hi! I think that should work fine! The consistency might be slightly different, but that should work great! xT
I have made these twice and am making them again tonight. I can’t say enough about how deicious these are!! My coworkers even request them! Thank you T for the recipe!
Hi Angela,
Happy Sunday!! So glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe, thanks a lot for making it and your review! xT
I just made these and they are really good. The bottom is really crumbly. I did have to sub melted butter for the oil. Not sure what I did wrong.
Hey Marlys,
Happy Monday!! So glad to hear that this recipe turned out well for you, thanks for making it:) xT
Hi Tieghan,
I have been looking for slices like this to get a nice snack in between 3 daily meals.
I can say that these were delicious! Great ratio of all ingredients and super healthy, me my brother adore them.
I am now making a batch weekly, we can’t get over them.
I made these for the first time this week. I followed the recipe exactly. The oatmeal doesn’t have a lot of flavor and there was a lot of it. I ended up cutting off half of the oatmeal part from the bottom of the end product. If I were to make these again I will half the cookie amount.
Hi Andrea,
Thanks for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback! Sorry to hear the cookie base wasn’t enjoyed, please let me know if there is anything that I can help with! xx
These are literally the BEST ever! I’ve made these so many times and I finally decided to make them in muffin cups and oh my God it was life-changing! Absolutely love this recipe.
This is so frustrating because I gave this five stars but when I posted it only gave three and now it won’t let me edit it.
No worries:)
Hey Lauren,
Happy Wednesday!! Thank you so much for making this recipe and sharing your review, I am so glad it was delish! xT
I make these all the time! So good.
Hey Hope,
Wonderful!! Love to hear that this recipe turned out well for you, thanks for giving it a go! xT