Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Bars
These Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Bars are layers of chocolate chip cookies, filled with a peanut butter cup filling, and then finished with another chocolate chip cookie layer. It’s the ultimate sweet treat to serve your family and friends.
We love peanut butter cups. They are one of our favorite treats to keep on hand when we have a chocolate craving. So, we came up with these chocolate chip peanut butter cookie bars, we knew that we were onto something great.
Table of contents
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- You only need simple ingredients so you don’t have to worry about spending a ton of money at the grocery store.
- The combination of chocolate and peanut butter makes this recipe out of this world delicious.
- They are great for parties, potlucks or just to keep on hand for when you are craving something sweet.
🛒Ingredients
You only need a few simple ingredients to help you make these delicious peanut butter cookie bars. Pick up these ingredients on your next trip to the grocery store so that you share this sweet treat with your friends and family in no time at all.
- melted butter
- brown sugar
- sugar
- large eggs
- vanilla extract
- baking soda
- salt
- flour
- milk chocolate chips
- mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
- sweetened condensed milk
- creamy peanut butter
See the recipe card below for quantities.
🔪 How to Make These Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Bars
Making these homemade cookie bars is easy. Just follow these step-by-step instructions or check out the full recipe in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Step 1: Mix the wet ingredients
In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter and both sugars until smooth. Add in the eggs, one at a time, and whisk. Add in the vanilla, baking soda, and salt and whisk until incorporated.
Step 2: Add the dry ingredients
Add in the flour, about a third of it at a time until well mixed. Use a spatula to fold in the chocolate chips. Divide the dough in half and press half of the dough into the bottom of a 9” x 13” pan that’s been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
Step 3: Make the peanut butter filling
Cut the peanut butter cups into halves or quarters and spread on top of the bottom layer of dough. In a small bowl, whisk together the condensed milk and the peanut butter until combined. Pour over the peanut butter cups/dough, leaving about an inch margin around the entire pan.
Step 4: Finish the bars and bake them
Using your hands, press the remaining cookie dough into flat pieces and cover the entire pan, pressing down on the edges to seal in the milk layer. Place in the 350 degree preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until it’s a light golden color and set in the middle. Remove and allow to cool.
Step 5: Finish the chooclate ganache
Melt the remaining chocolate chips and place in a small ziploc bag make a very small cut in the edge and drizzle over the entire pan. Allow bars to cool before slicing and serving.
📝Variations
Do you want to change up this recipe and make it your own? Here are some ways that you can do that!
- Peanut Butter Cups – Can’t find the mini cups? You can use the snack size or regular size instead.
- Nuts – Add some chopped peanuts or pecans to the cookie dough for a little crunch in your bars.
- Topping – Use semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips to make the topping for a little extra flavor.
Do you love chocolate cookie bar recipes like this? If so, next time give these Caramel Chocolate Bars a try.
🥄 Equipment
You will need a few kitchen tools to help you make this delicious recipe. Gather these tools so that you can enjoy this sweet treat.
- large bowl
- rubber spatula
- 9×13 pan
- knife and cutting board
- small Ziploc bag
🥫 Storage
Storage – Store the bars in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Make sure to keep your bars away from heat sources like the oven or microwave so that the chocolate topping doesn’t melt.
Freezing – One great thing about this sweet treat, is that you can freeze the bars and save them for later. Wrap the individual bars in plastic wrap and then store them in a freezer-safe bag and thaw at room temperature until you are ready to enjoy.
Serve With Cookie Bars
These peanut butter bars go well with a tall glass of milk or a cup of your favorite coffee. We like to enjoy one of these after a meal of this Stuffed Chicken Breasts. There’s no better to end a meal than with a chocolate and peanut butter dessert.
💭 Tips
Here are a few tips that you can use to help you make this delicious cookie bar recipe.
- Use room temperature ingredients for your cookie dough, so that you get a smooth and evenly mixed dough.
- For easy removal of your cookie bars, you can line your baking dish with parchment paper, leaving some paper on the sides to remove them from the pan smoothly.
- Allow the cookie bars to cool before you add the chocolate topping so that it doesn’t melt off and has time to harden on the bars.
⁉️ FAQ
Do you have questions about this peanut butter cup cookie bars recipe? Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions.
Yes, these bars can be made up to 24 hours in advance.
You know these bars are finished baking when a toothpick inserted into the top cookie dough comes out clean. They should also be golden brown on the top.
🍽 More Peanut Butter Recipes
Do you enjoy peanut butter? If so, next time give these recipes a try:
🧾Recipe Card
Want to make this recipe? Print the recipe card below, or pin this recipe, so you can find it later.
Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Bars
Equipment
- large bowl
- Rubber spatula
- 9×13 pan
- knife and cutting board
- Small Ziploc bag
Ingredients
- 1 cup melted butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 ¼ cup flour
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips divided
- 30 mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter and both sugars until smooth.
- Add in the eggs, one at a time, and whisk.
- Add in the vanilla, baking soda, and salt and whisk until incorporated.
- Add in the flour, about a third of it at a time until well mixed.
- Use a spatula to fold in the chocolate chips.
- Divide the dough in half and press half of the dough into the bottom of a 9” x 13” pan that’s been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Cut the peanut butter cups into halves or quarters and spread on top of the bottom layer of dough.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the condensed milk and the peanut butter until combined.
- Pour over the peanut butter cups/dough, leaving about an inch margin around the entire pan.
- Using your hands, press the remaining cookie dough into flat pieces and cover the entire pan, pressing down on the edges to seal in the milk layer.
- Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until it’s a light golden color and set in the middle.
- Remove and allow to cool.
- Melt the remaining chocolate chips and place in a small ziploc bag and make a very small cut in the edge and drizzle over the entire pan.
- Allow bars to cool before slicing and serving.
Notes
Disclaimer
Any nutritional data I provide is an approximation and actual dietary information can vary based on ingredients and proportion sizes.
