Next Post
This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.
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 treats.
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.
A little disappointing as I spent a lot of money on high quality ingredients for the crust to be very crumbly and fall apart. The top layer was very good still.
Hi Hannah,
Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback. Sorry to hear the base was so crumbly. Please let me know if I can help in any way! xx
I followed this recipe exactly and unfortunately I have to give it two big thumbs down.
The cookie base layer was flavourless and crumbly, the peanut butter layer was very thin, nothing like the photos.
Don’t waste your ingredients/money on this recipe. Terrible.
So very sorry to hear this, Lisa. Thanks for trying the recipe and sharing your feedback. Please let me know if I can help in any way! xT
Can’t follow this recipe to a tee or the bars will taste burnt and bottom will crumble. First of all, you have to bake it ahead of time, so the cookie part cools. Second, if you boil the peanut butter mixture for two minutes it tastes burnt. Reduce the heat and/ or reduce the time. The finished product is messy and sub par. Prepare to eat with a spoon.
Hi Desi,
Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback, so sorry to hear it was not enjoyed! xx
Our family loves these bars! Rich and delicious without any refined sugar. I’ve made them 3x now and each time our friends and family agreed that they are fantastic!
Hey Hannah,
Fantastic! So glad to hear you and your family have been enjoying this recipe, thanks so much for making it:) xT
So the bottom oat layer of the bars did crumble for me as well. However, I found that once the bars fully cooled and solidified in the fridge for a day, the oat layer stayed much more intact. To the reviewers who said that the oat layer had no taste, I 150% disagree. I kept thinking that if I took that oat layer, broke it into pieces, and crisped it up on a baking sheet, it would make a fabulous granola! Love that it was sweet but not too sweet due to the use of maple syrup versus granulated or brown sugar. The peanut butter layer I could have bathed in, and the chocolate layer with the sea salt was fabulous. My husband and both of my young kids loved these as much as I did (my kids asked for these for dessert every night until they were gone).
Hi Rachel,
Thank you so much! I appreciate you sharing your feedback and what worked well for you:) Love to hear that you enjoyed these bars! xT
These were so bad my 8 and 5 year old boys won’t eat them. The abundance of peanut butter completely cancels out ALL other flavors, including the chocolate! The disappointment was shocking, especially considering the time involved. Sorry, but these do not work.
Hi Anne,
Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback, so sorry to hear they were not enjoyed. Please let me know if there is anything specific that I can help with! xx
These are delicious! I followed the recipe just like it says. They are so addicting and I’ll be making them again for sure! Thank you!!!
Hey Jill,
Thanks so much! I appreciate you making this recipe and your feedback, so glad it was a hit! Xx
My husband gave these a 3 and I a 4 so they really should be 3.5 stars. I made them without reading the reviews first. Now that they’re ready to eat after sitting in the fridge all night I agree with the other reviews that the cookie base is subpar. I have baked with almond flour lots and used coconut oil and maple syrup in many other “clean” desserts and unfortunately the cookie base is really off. It is crumbly but not dry. The chocolate top and pb are fine. They’re actually really good but the base just ruins them. Won’t make these again but the do picture beautifully.
Hi there,
Thanks so much for making this recipe and sharing your feedback! So sorry to hear that they were not your fave! Let me know if there is anything that I can help with! xT