Soft and chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars! These cookie bars are made extra thick 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!
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 granulated 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 9×13 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 pan and use a spatula to spread it evenly into pan.
- Bake at 350℉ 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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Recipe updated 4/19/25
I am a big fan of your recipes and many from Sugar Spun Run, as well. Unfortunately, these came out terrible. I agree with many of the other comments, that a 9×13 would have been ideal. I’m so disappointed. After leaving them in the oven for 70 minutes, DOUBLE the suggested baking time, I gave up and took them out. They were still completely raw in the middle. What a disappointment and waste of my time and money. Sorry.
Thank you for sharing your experience Ali. I’m sorry that these bars didn’t work out for you, I can understand how disappointing that is. We retested and updated the recipe, adjusting both the pan size and baking instructions. Thanks so much for your honest feedback; it truly helps us improve!
I am currently making them. I would agree a 9×13 pan would definitely be better. Not sure why a 9×9 pan was used? Mine is currently in a 9×9 pan and concerned they will not cook. Will end up covering them with foil so they don’t burn.
I just made these and they turned out fantastic! I forgot to put the milk in but didn’t seem to hurt it at all. I did use peanut butter powder (hydrated) and they were a big hit!
Love the recipes
Holly, I really love your recipes! I’ve been cooking and baking 40+ years. I lost most of my cookbooks due to a flood so resort to your site often.
This chocolate chip peanut butter bars recipe came out AWFUL! Never have I used/seen cornstarch in a cookie or bar recipe… sign #1, sign #2 I asked, who’s Samantha?
I was utterly embarrassed when I brought these bars to a family dinner, they were very dry!
Thank you so much for your kind words and for loving my recipes—I’m really sorry these bars didn’t turn out how you expected, especially for a family dinner. I know how frustrating that can be!
To clarify, cornstarch is often used in cookies and bars to create a softer texture, helping to keep baked goods tender. It’s similar to how pudding mix works in some cookie recipes.
As for Samantha, she was a contributor I know and trust. She has a lot of baking expertise and has created many well loved dessert recipes.
BEST PB cookie bar recipe I have found so far and I’ve tried a ton of them looking for the best recipe! The key to getting a perfect bake on bars or brownies is to learn to use a digital thermometer and check the center of the bars when the temp is between 170 – 200 F they are done. It is your personal preference when you pull them out of the oven but it needs to be between these temps. You will never over or under bake them this way.
Great tasting but I used a 9×13 pan as there was too much dough for a 9×9 pan. As a long time baker I could tell trying to use a smaller pan would never bake through.
Thank you for trying our recipe! I am glad you enjoyed it.
This is one of the WORST cookie bar recipes I have ever made. I left it in for at least 15 extra minutes and finally had to take it out as it looked like it was getting too dark. After letting cool, it was basically RAW cookie dough in the middle. What a waste of my time and ingredients. Definitely do NOT recommend.
Sorry this recipe didn’t work out for you, Denise!
Hi.
Would this recipe still be good if frozen after its baked?
Thank you!
Patty
Hi Patricia, I think it should taste fine after being frozen. I would love to hear how it turns out for you!
OMG! Delicious! I only had chunky peanut butter but these bars are AMAZING!
Made these today for a church function. Subbed 1/2 butterscotch chips for some of the chocolate chips. Baked it in a9x13 pan and they were perfect! So good!
Made these but I’m not sure they’re safe to eat – dough is basically raw in the middle. Edges nice and brown, though. Recommend larger baking dish as 9×9 does make thick bars but they just don’t cook! Frustrating to spend money and time on recipes that fail…
Sorry to hear this recipe didn’t work out as expected, Kathy. If you do try it again in a larger pan we would love to hear how it turns out for you!
Really good! I did use Jif Natural and seemed fine, but that is not an oily PB. I also threw in some peanut butter chips I had. About 2/3 cup and I did 1 1/2 chocolate. Used 9 x 13 pan and took about 30 min. I was looking for a peanut butter chocolate chip bar recipe, and this was a home run! I have made a lot of Spend with Pennies recipes and knew because it was theirs, it would be good!