Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookie Bars
Published 7/19/2019 • Updated 7/18/2023
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These Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookie Bars are about to change your life. They’re gooey on the inside, made with wholesome ingredients, and kid-friendly!
This oatmeal cookie bars recipe uses all-natural sugar (hey, maple syrup!), white whole wheat flour, rolled oats, and all-natural peanut butter to keep these peanut butter oatmeal bars healthy and better-for-you!
It’s Friday and you deserve a COOKIE BAR. But, these aren’t you average peanut butter cookie bars…
They’re Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars.
You guys died over this sneak peek on Instagram stories, so we rejiggered our content calendar to get these up ASAP. We also made them two more times to make sure they’re perfect…and, well, they are! These peanut butter oatmeal bars are a spin-off of our Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, but we added in some rolled oats and white whole wheat flour for more of a traditional cookie bar texture.
This recipe is gooey, satisfying, and just the best. They’re not too sweet and you don’t have to worry about refined sugars because these peanut butter cookie bars are made with maple syrup and you can use vegan chocolate chips to keep things 100% dairy free. Here’s what else you need:
Peanut Butter Cookie Bars Ingredients
- Rolled Oats
- White Whole Wheat Flour
- Cinnamon
- Mini Chocolate Chips
- All Natural Peanut Butter
- Eggs
- Maple Syrup
- Vanilla Extract
Best All-Natural Peanut Butter Brands
- Smuckers (ALL-TIME FAV)
- Whole Foods
- Fresh Thyme
- Costco
- Trader Joe’s
Lastly, before I share the recipe for these oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip bars, I wanted to talk about ingredient swaps. You guys are the swap queens, so I’m hoping to answer all of those questions here!
Peanut Butter Cookie Bar Swaps
- White whole wheat flour –> I recommend swapping with either all-purpose, whole wheat flour, or a gluten-free flour blend. Swap recommendation is 1:1. Note: Do not swap 1:1 for a nut-based flour such as almond flour, coconut flour, etc.
- Peanut butter –> Good news! Any kind of nut butter works for this recipe! My favorite other than peanut butter is cashew butter! Swap recommendation is 1:1.
- Maple syrup –> If you’re hoping to swap the maple syrup for another kind of sugar, make sure you use a liquid sweetener such as honey or agave. Swap recommendation is 1:1.
Storage
Store these delicious peanut butter oatmeal bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Freezer instructions: to freeze, place cooled bars on a cookie sheet. Then, freeze for 1 hour. Transfer bars from cookie sheet to a freezer-safe gallon-size bag. Remove as much air as possible and freeze for up to 3 months.
More Healthy Dessert Recipes
Looking for more healthy dessert recipes just like this? Check out some of our favorites below!- Pumpkin Almond Butter Freezer Fudge
- Vegan Peanut Butter Banana Cookies
- Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Fresh Cherry Crisp
- Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips
Wet Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and spray an 8×8 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray or line with parchment paper.
- Next, add all of your dry ingredients to a bowl and mix well. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk your eggs. Then add the rest of your wet ingredients to the eggs. Mix well.
- Slowly add your dry ingredients to wet ingredients. When ingredients are well combined, pour dough into your baking pan. Spread evenly.
- Bake at 350ºF for 15-18 minutes (depending on your oven) and how gooey you want your bars).
Tips & Notes
- Option to sub any other drippy nut butter such as cashew or almond for the peanut butter.
- Option to sub the white whole wheat flour for a gluten-free flour blend. We do not recommend subbing for coconut flour.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Even when adjusting expectations for a “healthier” recipe, I found these bars to be a littler bland. Delicious enough to eat but not a recipe I’ll repeat.
The middle of the pan sank as other reviews mentioned too, but these were my favorite pieces. I would let the bars cool, remove the edges and just eat the center squares. I would also reduce the cinnamon to 1/2tsp to let more peanut butter flavor come through.
These taste pretty good for “healthy” bars but they are too soft and fall apart too easily. I used thick honey instead of maple syrup (waaay too expensive) and plenty of PB/Almond utter; I baked them extra time but they still crumbled too easily.. I will make them again and try to perfect the recipe.
Great recipe to satisfy my sweet tooth. Prepared as directed and it turned out great!