You know, because we don’t have enough peanut butter on this site. Or chocolate. Or cookies. I can almost guarantee once you make these for the first time you will become addicted and have to make them all the time. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. One of my favorite things about this recipe is that it makes a ton (they’re baked in a large sheet pan). That can be both dangerous and helpful. Mostly helpful. If I have to feed a crowd, this is my go-to. They honestly are SO fast. The dough comes together in about 5 minutes and they only bake for about 10. And then you can feed a gazillion (okay slight exaggeration) people when you’re done and they will all love you. I originally got this recipe from two friends (thanks Carolyn and Alisa!) and it seems to be one of those recipes that just ‘goes around’. Apparently this was a common treat in school lunches back in the day and I’m starting to feel majorly ripped off that all I got was soggy pizza. If anyone knows the original source, I’d love to know, but it seems to just be traced back to either everyone’s grandma or everyone’s lunch ladies! Let us cook.
These start off like most good things do: with butter and sugar.
In goes yummy nummy peanut butter. Smooth or chunkified, totally up to you.
Then some eggs
(and there’s some vanilla in there too)
Then toss in the dry ingredients
You should have a nice soft dough at this point; a little softer than a normal cookie dough. Definitely take a big ol’ bite of that.
And then add some oats.
That’s it for the dough- just press it into a big rimmed cookie sheet. (By the way, have I ever told you how much I love these pans?? They come with lids. Brilliant. Makes baking stuff like this and then storing or transporting sooo easy. Love love love them.) I usually line mine with foil because I have a thing for covering pans in foil. If I can avoid washing a pan, I’m all for it. Pop that pan in the oven to bake- they only take about 10 minutes.
While those are in the oven, rinse out your bowl real quick and whip up the frosting. Oh my gosh this frosting is so good. It’s melty and buttery and chocolatey and so many other good words I can’t think of right now.
You’ll want to put the frosting on when the bars are still warm, and just after the frosting itself is done. Otherwise it stiffens up and becomes hard to spread.
Mmmm…giant pan of soft cookie…
This next photo is borderline ridiculousness. Dumping melted peanut butter on top of a giant peanut butter cookie and below a layer of ooey gooey chocolate frosting is completely unnecessary. It’s also very delicious.
You can skip this step, or embrace it, depending on how wild you’re feeling that day.
Then pour on that frosting, or rather “plop” on the frosting. Like I said, do it right after you make it and while the bars are still warm so it spreads on easily and doesn’t break your cookie.
Since I took forever taking pictures my frosting isn’t as smooth and glossy as it will look for you. Yours will be beautiful, I promise. I also picked up some of those peanuts from below. It’s all good.
That’s all there is to it, well except for the eating part which is the most important. Once the bars are cool, they are super soft cookie squares with chocolate that melts in your mouth.
You can also eat these slightly warm, and they’re amaaazing. They’re so soft and the chocolate frosting is more like melted chocolate fudge so you’ll want to grab a fork.
These have so much flavor and richness that they also work great with a scoop of ice cream, and heck, throw some hot fudge on there too just for good measure. In fact, this is how we eat them most often at our house. Because a scoop of ice cream makes just about everything better.
Chocolate-Frosted Peanut Butter Bars
Compliments of Lunch Ladies and Grandmothers Everywhere
Cookie Base
1 cup real butter (2 sticks) at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups peanut butter, chunky or smooth
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoons table salt
3 cups all purpose flour
3 cups quick oats
optional: an extra 3/4 cup peanut butter, see notes in recipe below
Fudge Frosting
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a rimmed cookie sheet (standard half-sheet pan) lightly with non-stick spray and set aside.
Cream butter and sugars for 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add peanut butter and vanilla and beat until combined. Add eggs, one at a time and beat between each addition. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt and add mixture to dough. Beat to combine. Add oats and mix until incorporated. Press dough into prepared pan into a flat layer. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, but up to 15-20. I’ve noticed that baking time can greatly differ depending on elevation, product brands (especially the peanut butter) etc. The center should be puffed and set, but still soft. The one thing you don’t want to do is overbake them. So just keep an eye on them.
While crust is baking, prepare frosting. Whisk together powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Add butter (make sure it’s soft!), boiling water, and vanilla. Beat until smooth and glossy.
When cookie crust is done baking, if desired drizzle about 3/4 cups melted (just nuke it in the microwave) peanut butter on top and then spread on frosting. Let cool (or leave slightly warm) and cut into squares to serve. If also desired (and what’s not to be desired here?) serve with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge. Moan while eating.
I MUST make these.
and eat the ENTIRE pan
by myself
I have a recipe for peanut butter bars that never seem to quite turn out right. And what I always wished was that they would turn out like the ones in school lunch at school…they were the best! Thanks for the recipe, I can’t wait to try it!
These are my go-to bars for campiing. My family loves them.
I made these after your post! I used 1/2 white flour, 1/2 whole wheat flour. It gave them such a hearty taste! Thanks for this recipe. It is a hit!
these. look. YUMMEH.
These are amazing! They are sweet, without being overly so. A perfect salty sweet treat!
The picture of this recipe is to die for. My mouth waters just looking at it.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen these cookies. And, no, I wasn’t homeschooled. But definitely deprived! I will try these soon. I love me some PB!
I too have a child with a peanut allergy…I have used Sunbutter as a substitute for peanut butter in other recipes. He still doesn’t eat Sunbutter but at least we can get our “peanut” craving every now in then. It’s such a great alternative!!!
Um, yum. I totally remember these from school. Sadly, my kids have never had them at school!! Can you believe it?? I have made them in the distant past. I need to make them again. I like the option of adding ice cream and hot fudge!!! Yum-o-licious!
Yet another recipe that I WANT to try so bad, but I just CAN’T. My poor little boy is deathly allergic to nuts, so we won’t be having these at our house! :(. I personally love PB/Chocolate!
Is it easy to cutt this reciepe in half if you don’t want to make the full batch? I would end up freezing them since I only have 2 kids.
Yes Lalani, I halve them quite often. The only thing that’s tricky is the egg. I’m sure you could actually just make them with 1 or 2 eggs, but I use 1 1/2. I just crack an egg and beat it with a fork really well and then only put half of it in the recipe. You can then bake them in a 9×13 pan, works great!
My mom always made these when we went camping. They’re delicious and disappeared quick every time. I love these!
Those look tasty. Love the combo of peanut butter and chocolate.
Mmmm…I have a feeling these will be making an appearance in my kitchen SOON! They look incredible!
Oh My Gosh! Drooling again, as I look at your wonderful tutorial and recipe.
Thanks so much.
Made this with my kids and they were in heaven every step of the way. These have topped their all time favorite chocolate cupcakes. Do you think these freeze well? I want to use them as bribes with the kids for as long as possible.
Oh, NUM! I had those bars at Cherry Hill Elementary in Orem, UT. I will never forget those culinary delights. It makes me feel old, but I’ll go ahead and say it, “they just don’t make school lunches like they used to”. We were blessed, indeed!
I love your blog! We love peanut butter fingers! I have to admit, we use much, much more peanut butter over the cookie part. If I am in a big hurry, I just use store bought chocolate frosting but that is only if I am in a hurry. Love the idea of turning them into a peanut butter finger sundae!
Don’t you love it when your cooking looks just like their pictures? xD
I am (was) a lunch lady and I worked in the bakery dept. We made these before the government jumped all over school lunches to ake them healthier.THATS a whole other story. Anyway, we didn’t use the chocolate frosting on top of the gooey peanut butter topping. Oh No! We dumped about 2 cups of chocolate chips on the hot gooey peanut butter topping while still hot, then spread the whole thing over the “crust”. If anyone wants our school recipe i do share. These are sooooooooo goooooood!
Sorry to highjack, but I have been looking for years to find out what kind of ranch dressing was used. Any idea?
I would love your recipe. I have happy thoughts of them at my school lunch which was many years ago! Thanks
I would love the school recipe for the p-butter bars. Thanks
I would love to have the school lunch recipe too. My school Redlands Senior High School in California, made these with a peanut butter frosting, no chocolate. I don;t remember whether they had any oats in them or not though. Thank you!!!
Ooooh, these look amazing and I totally remember these at school lunches!!! My husband saw this post and is now requesting them. My waistline and diet are hating him right now!
Just tried these (gluten free of course!) I used 3 cups of the bette hagman GF flour mix (6 cups rice flour {brown works better in baking} 2 cups potato starch flour and 1 cup tapioca starch) and Bob’s red mill gluten free oats. They were a big hit, had a good texture and tasted great! I love that I can almost always adapt your great recipes for my family 🙂 Thanks!
I saw this and got up and made it! It was perfect for cub scouts! I used a fluted cookie cutter and cut out cookie sized pieces! Thanks!
The all-time-favorite cookies!
Just made these (instead of a b-day cake for me) and made daughter said I make the best chocolate (frosting) ever. I should probably give the credit to you, but I’m not telling her! Thanks for the best chocolate ever!
I’m making these tonight! Thanks for the awesome recipes!!
You. Are. Killing. Me. I have gestational diabetes and have been lusting after the mississippi mud brownies ever since you posted them. Now I’ve got another thing to add to my list. 3 more weeks!!!
OK, I hope I am not being rude (wait, I know I am but I guess it is worth the risk) but seriously, how do you not weigh 400lbs? I’m just say’n…….and really I want to know because I can’t even have these things in the house without gaining 10lbs.
I work out a lot- just to break even! haha. I always joke that the staff at my gym must wonder how a person can work out as much as I do and not have the body of the super model. Little do they know I go straight from the gym to the kitchen, haha.
I can’t wait to make these, they sound divine!!