Super simple peanut butter oatmeal bars ready in under 30 minutes – a perfect fuss free treat for satisfying any sweet tooth! 

Hey, guess what?! Today we’re going to revisit one of my earliest posts which also happens to be one of my favorite go-to recipes – peanut butter oatmeal bars!

Originally I planned on rephotographing these PB bars to make them a little more blog/Pinterest  friendly. As much as I really loved these pictures at the time, my photography has improved so much since taking them that I didn’t feel like they did the recipe justice. Also, it gave me an excuse to make these again.

NOW I realize that my pictures aren’t the only thing that needs revising. Months after posting this recipe I have just now noticed that I left out a step in the recipe instructions. Not an important one of course – just the part where you add your ingredients together. *Sarcasm* Oops!

Is it just me or is it impossible to edit your own work?

I’d like to think that I’m fairly decent at editing and revising for others, but when it comes to myself I just can’t seem to get the words right. It’s probably because I struggle with my writing so much that when the words finally do start to flow it comes out more like like word vomit than anything else. And then when I’m finished I can’t stand the thought of going back through in depth and proof reading what I just wrote because I’m so embarrassed by the end result.

So the lesson to be learned here is to always make sure that Mike proof reads my posts for me. He usually does, but a lot of the time I don’t want to wait for him to do it and just submit my posts anyways because I’m more of a ‘just do it’ kind of person.

About the recipe

So why is this one of my favorite cookie recipes?

Um well, let me first answer by saying ‘peanut butter’ and then following by saying ‘chocolate drizzle’. For an even easier recipe go ahead and mix the chocolate chips into the dough instead of melting onto for a chocolate drizzle. I just like to drizzle because I like the way it looks.

If that isn’t a good enough reason it’s also incredibly easy to throw together. All you need is one bowl, 30 minutes and a few easy to source ingredients that you probably already having hanging around your kitchen. Instead of going through the more traditional cookie route of forming and dropping balls of dough on a cookie sheet I like to dump the dough in an 8×8 in baking dish for easier prep and cleanup.

I’ve made this recipe successfully with both natural, oily peanut butter and regular peanut butter. If you are going to use natural peanut butter that comes with a layer of oil on top just do your best to drain as much of the the oil from the PB after you’ve stopped out one cup before adding it to the rest of your ingredients. Otherwise the cookie bars will come out oily as well. Also be aware that using natural peanut butter that has no added sugar will mean that the cookie bars will be less sweet than using regular peanut butter.

Now that we’ve got that all sorted out, I hope you like these peanut butter oatmeal bars as much as we do around here!

Recipe

Peanut Butter Oat Bars

Yield: 16 bars Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes Total Time: 25 minutes

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Super simple peanut butter oatmeal bars ready in under 30 minutes - a perfect fuss free treat for satisfying any sweet tooth!

Ingredients

• 1 cup peanut butter*, 250 grams
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar, 100grams
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup certified gluten free oats, 90 grams
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips optional, 45 grams

Need help converting to weights? Check out my cups to grams Conversion Guide.

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F/180°C and line/grease an 8x8 inch square baking tin.
2. In a medium sized mixing bowl add the peanut butter, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla. Mix to combine. Stir in your baking powder and oats until everything is evenly incorporated.
3. Once everything is mixed together completely, dump and press the dough in to the lined/greased baking dish making sure it's evenly distributed. Bake it in the oven for 15-17 minutes. To check that it's finished, stick a tooth pick or knife into the center and when it comes out clean you're done.
4. You can either stop here and enjoy your freshly baked bars, or keep going to add a little chocolate. While you're letting your bars cool on a wire rack, begin to melt your chocolate in a small sauce pan, stirring constantly. You can either do this part in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring between intervals until it's completely smooth.
5. Once your chocolate is melted, drizzle it over the tops of your bar. Just go crazy with it. Slice, and enjoy.

Notes

*If you're using natural peanut butter with an oil layer on top make sure that you drain any excess oil from the peanut butter before adding it to the rest of your ingredients otherwise everything will come out too oily.

 

Nutrition Information

Yield: 16

Serving Size:

bar Calories: 173Saturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 84mgCarbohydrates: 18gFiber: 1gSugar: 13gProtein: 5g

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.

© A Saucy Kitchen, Sarah Nevins

Cuisine: American