Soft and chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars! These cookie bars are made extra thick in a 9×9 pan and are loaded with creamy peanut butter and packed full of chocolate chips!
Chocolate & Peanut Butter: A Dynamic Duo
Is there even a better flavor combination than chocolate and peanut butter? I’m not sure that there is, and any recipe that combines these two flavors is a winner in my book.
So, it probably won’t surprise you that these peanut butter chocolate chip cookie bars are among my latest baking obsessions. Recently I’ve been going through peanut butter like mad (fortunately I’d stocked up on jars over the holidays when I made dozens and dozens of peanut butter blossoms and a pan of peanut butter lasagna!), and the craze has continued as I’ve been making a batch of peanut butter chocolate chip cookie bars once a week.
Tips & Recommendations
They’re soft and chewy, made with a dash of cornstarch and creamy peanut butter (I don’t recommend using natural peanut butter). These cookie bars can be made with milk, semisweet, or dark chocolate chips (or even white chocolate chips, it just depends on your chocolate preferences, I always prefer semisweet chocolate).
While I love a great chocolate chip cookie, these peanut butter chocolate chip cookie bars might be even better, and not just because they add peanut butter into the mix.
How to Make Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Making the dough is as simple as making classic cookie dough, but the actual production requires half the effort because there’s no need to scoop the cookie dough into even-sized balls, wait to cook pan after pan of cookie dough, and repeat over and over until all of the cookie dough is gone.
Also, unlike with so many of my favorite cookie recipes, there’s absolutely no chilling required to make these cookie bars. Just spread the batter into the pan and you’re good to go!
This recipe can be made in a 13×9 pan if you prefer, but I like to bake it in my smaller 9×9 pan instead for extra thick and chewy peanut butter chocolate chip cookie bars (like I said… big peanut butter & chocolate fan over here, so the bigger and fatter the squares the better!).
Keep in mind that if you do opt for the larger pan you will need to shave five minutes or so off of the cook time, as the thinner bars will bake much faster than their deep dish counterparts.
More Amazing Bar Recipes
- Easy Lemon Bars Recipe – Sweet and tart!
- Apple Cheese Danish Bars – So easy
- S’mores Bars
- Chocolate Fudge Ripple Coconut Bars
- Easy Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars – Favorite!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 ½ cups light brown sugar tightly packed
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 cups chocolate chips semisweet or milk chocolate would work great
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 9×9 pan with parchment paper (or lightly grease and flour the pan).
- Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, peanut butter, and sugars until well combined.
- Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and stir well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt until well combined.
- Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture until completely combined.
- Add milk and stir again until mixture is well incorporated.
- Fold in chocolate chips.
- Transfer batter to prepared 9×9 pan and use a spatula to spread it evenly into pan.
- Bake on 350F for 35 minutes or until edges are just beginning to turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with few moist crumbs.
- Allow to cool before cutting and serving.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dessert
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Excellent Food
Just made these in a 9×13 pan for 30 minutes. They are perfect cookie bars. They won’t seem done in the middle, but as they cool they will firm up. I love that the edges have a tender crunch and the inside is soft. Great with a glass of milk or cup of coffee.
That does sound perfect to me too Christine!
To make these bars in a 13×9 baking pan. Do you double the recipe? They look amazing
Hi LuAnn, I would double the recipe for that size of pan. If not, they will be much thinner.
These were awesome!!!!
I did increase the baking time , about 12 extra minutes and put the dough into a 9×13 glass baking dish. I stuck a knife in, they looked raw, but the knife came out clean.
I used chocolate chunks and chunky peanutbutter, 1
1/2 cups . They were very rich .
They reminded me of a friend’s peanut butter fudge, I had in my teens.
My family lives far away and are always asking for baked goods. Because these are so moist and tender, I know they will ship well, and not dry up. I made these over 2 weeks ago, and have a few left, that are still moist. I wish I could upload a picture to share.
Great recipe!!! Thanks for sharing it with everyone!!!
How lovely Kimberly! Thank you for sharing. How nice for you to send them to your family!