Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are made with soft sugar cookie dough mixed with peanut butter and chocolate chips. The bar is finished off with a creamy chocolate frosting to create the ultimate peanut butter chocolate chip cookie experience.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are a fantastic dessert recipe, particularly if you’re baking for a crowd! You should also check out our Peanut Butter Pretzels!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars. AKA everything that is right in the world combined into one little (or large!) bite. My name is Karli, I am visiting from my little corner of the internet Cooking with Karli. I am SO excited to be a contributor to this wonderful blog, Butter with a Side of Bread!
How to make Cookie Bars
I tend to experiment a lot when baking and these bars are proof that *sometimes* the stars align and something magical is born. I needed to make a treat to take to an activity, but as always was short on time. Without really thinking, I started making sugar cookies. Halfway through I realized what I was doing, sugar cookies take fore-v-e-r! I saw the jar of peanut butter sitting right next to all of the other ingredients just staring at me. It had to have been fate. Or just the fact that I hadn’t quite cleaned up from lunch yet. 🙂 So, I did what I do best, and totally winged the rest of the dessert. Like a boss.
So, in went the peanut butter. Next I grabbed my stash of chocolate chips and went crazy with them. Then I made the best decision of all, and pressed them into a cookie sheet rather than scooping them into balls. There is just something about a cookie bar.. am-I-right?
The only reasonable thing to do to a cookie bar is put thick, creamy frosting on top, right? Well, these have just that. The frosting is made on the stove top in one saucepan. No need to clean the stand mixer bowl. 😉 All in all, these cookie bars will disappear faster than you can say Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Sugar Cookie Bars. Phew! But really, hide a few for yourself, they are even better on day 2.
How to make the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar
- Line your baking sheet with parchment paper. Your worries of the cookies sticking to the pan will melt away.
- Use both milk and semi-sweet chocolate chips in the dough. I love the variety it gives!
- Pull the pan out of the oven a smidge before you think they are done. This is the key to getting soft, chewy cookies versus hard and crumbly.
- Patience is a must, let those cookies cool completely before frosting. Then again, let the frosting dry completely before cutting to insure crisp cutting lines.
- Use a very sharp knife when cutting the bars (this is my all time favorite knife) it will make all the difference in your bars.
- Hide a few bars for yourself, they’ll disappear so quickly you’ll be glad you did!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
(Printable Recipe Below)
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are made with soft sugar cookie dough mixed with peanut butter and chocolate chips. The bar is finished off with a creamy chocolate frosting to create the ultimate peanut butter chocolate chip cookie experience.
Ingredients
Cookie Bar
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 eggs
- 4 tsp vanilla
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3 tsp salt
- 3 cup flour
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Chocolate Frosting
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 350°. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, or spray with non stick spray.
-
Cream the butter and sugar together for 3 minutes. It will become light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and mix in the peanut butter, eggs and vanilla until well incorporated.
-
Add the flour, baking powder and salt. (I usually toss it all in at once and mix slowly) Mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
-
Press the dough into the bottom of a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. (21″x15″) Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes, or until the center is puffy and is no longer glossy. You’ll want to pull them before they start to brown.
-
Once the cookies have cooled, combine the milk, butter and sugar in a sauce pan. Bring it to a rolling boil and boil for 45 seconds. Take off of the heat and stir in the vanilla, chocolate chips and peanut butter. Pour over the sheet of cookies immediately.
-
Let the frosting cool and dry completely before cutting. Cut, drool, eat and repeat!
This recipe makes a large batch of 32 cookie bars. Feel free to halve the recipe if needed.
I use a mixture of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips and large milk chocolate baking chips. You can use whatever you have on hand.
If you like these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, check out some of our other easy peanut butter recipes:
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Ingredients
Cookie Bar
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 eggs
- 4 tsp vanilla
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3 tsp salt
- 3 cup flour
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Chocolate Frosting
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, or spray with non stick spray.
- Cream the butter and sugar together for 3 minutes. It will become light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and mix in the peanut butter, eggs and vanilla until well incorporated.
- Add the flour, baking powder and salt. (I usually toss it all in at once and mix slowly) Mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Press the dough into the bottom of a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. (21"x15") Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes, or until the center is puffy and is no longer glossy. You'll want to pull them before they start to brown.
- Once the cookies have cooled, combine the milk, butter and sugar in a sauce pan. Bring it to a rolling boil and boil for 45 seconds. Take off of the heat and stir in the vanilla, chocolate chips and peanut butter. Pour over the sheet of cookies immediately.
- Let the frosting cool and dry completely before cutting. Cut, drool, eat and repeat!
Notes
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Kathy says
Mine didn’t rise near as much as yours. The only change I made was the salt. I added two tsp instead of three. I don’t know what I did wrong
Jessica says
Did you bake them in a jelly roll pan? They don’t rise much- just enough to make them fluffier.