Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars with Chocolate Frosting
Updated March 26, 2019
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars with Chocolate Frosting-these bars are easy to make and always a hit at parties and potlucks!
Over the weekend, I made a pan of my favorite Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars with Chocolate Frosting. I was planning on taking the pan to a neighborhood party, but the pan never made it. It started with me testing one square for quality control and then I just went out of control. One square led to another and another and soon the pan had a few rows missing. I should have known better, I can never stop when I start eating these delicious bars. They are my favorite!
I did manage to save enough to make a plate of bars to share with friends. They didn’t know they were supposed to get the full pan:)
The peanut butter oatmeal bars are good on their own, but the chocolate frosting makes them irresistible. Just try to stay away from the pan, I bet you can’t do it. I always end up back at the pan cutting another small piece. The small piece eventually turns into an entire row…or the entire pan, depending on the day. These bars are TOO good! I just can’t help myself. Even when I make them for others, I still end up eating more than my fair share. Oh well, at least I share some of them:)
The recipe makes a 9 x 13 pan, which makes these bars perfect for potlucks and parties. They are easy to transport and everyone loves them. You can’t go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate!
If you are looking for an easy dessert that will get rave reviews from your friends and family, make Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars with Chocolate Frosting. They are sure to be a favorite! And if you end up eating the entire pan, I won’t tell. I totally get it! You can always make another pan to share. Good thing they are easy to make:)
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars with Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients
For the Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars:
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
For the Chocolate Frosting:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar together until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add in the egg and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
- With the mixer on low, slowly beat in the flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Stir in the oats.
- Put dough into prepared pan. Press gently with fingers to even the dough out. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until bars are light golden brown and set around the edges. Cool completely.
- While bars are cooling, make the chocolate frosting. In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the blade attachment, beat the butter and cocoa together until smooth, about 2 minutes. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk and beat until creamy and smooth. Mix in the vanilla extract.
- Frost the cooled bars with chocolate frosting. Cut into squares and serve.
Have you tried this recipe?
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I would love to snack on these bars! 😀
I do the same thing when I make a batch of my favorite cookie bars. I just keep cutting little tiny squares to have a “bite”, but that magically turns into an entire row of cookies! These look so delicious… pinned!
Thanks Liz!
My hubby is working 12 hour graveyards for the next 6 days, which means I can make these bars and eat them ALL, and he won’t have any idea I didn’t share.
And that is exactly what I plan to do. Pinned!
Great idea:) Thanks for pinning!
These sound so good. Thank you.
Wow. These look extremely delicious. I can’t say no to a peanut butter and chocolate treat. These wouldn’t last long in my house either.
Um, I’m going to need to make these ASAP!! Look amazing, Maria!
Um, I’d eat the whole pan too. Peanut butter, oats, chocolate…totally fork-in-pan worthy!
I can see how that would happen with these – they would never make it to the front door in my home.
Can you make the chocolate topping with melted chocolate chips?
The texture will be different than the frosting, but sounds good to me:)
Your recipe is so amazing. But I wonder if this cake is too sweet or not because I always make cake for my children ….
Mr. Science is going to go CRAZY over these! They sound like the perfect snack 🙂
I might have to try playing with the ingredients to make it a suitable breakfast, too (because I KNOW I’m not going to be able to stop at just one of these guys!)
Oh, yum! Like you, I’d be sampling sliver after sliver—so irresistible!!
these look awesome! my favorite flavor combo 🙂
Every time you post a peanut (or even tree nut) recipe I wonder, how do you do it with Josh’s allergies? As a mom of a son with severe peanut allergies, I wonder how you avoid cross-contamination in your kitchen when you bake with peanut butter. How do you clean up the kitchen, the utensils, the trays, and yourself after this? How do you keep Josh safe? How do you clean the kids so they don’t get peanut butter all over? Please know I’m not meaning this as a criticism: I’m truly wondering how you manage it. I’m also hoping that neither of your sons has any food allergies. It’s not something anyone wishes on anyone else! So happy to see that Caleb seems fine, and hoping your little guy is ok, too! I’d love to see a post by you or Josh or both of you on this issue. It’s a real concern for so many of us out here in reader-land! (On a side note, my son is also severely allergic to eggs, and I love that many of your cookie recipes are easy to modify into eggless ones. They are all so good, I’d hate not to be able to make them! Our kitchen is eggless and peanutless.)
I only bake with peanut butter when Josh isn’t home so the smell doesn’t bug him. I always do the dishes and clean up so he doesn’t have to touch anything. The boys aren’t allergic to nuts, thankfully. I always clean them up after they eat peanut butter. We are careful!
These bars look so delicious!!!
One bar would seriously not be enough for me, it’s no wonder the whole pan didn’t make it to the party!
Love these bars! Chocolate and PB is one of my favourite combos – so good! That chocolate frosting looks really addictive! I would definitely eat the entire pan of these!
Love me some peanutbutter bars – and FROSTING! Have great childhood memories with these things! Thanks for sharing!
I made these last night for a party. The bar part is wonderful and melts in your mouth. I would have preferred a ganache topping I think. The frosting was great just rich and there was a lot.
I made these and just made 1/2 of frosting recipe. Perfect!
These ARE delicious! Buttery and chewy and my family loves them! I love recipes that fill a 9 x 13 pan because if I’m going to the effort of making them, I’d rather make a big batch. These are a must for chocolate-peanut butter lovers! (And I like that there are rolled oats and whole wheat flour too) thanks for sharing this gem!
Glad you liked the bars! Yay!
What a great potluck dessert! I could easly polish off several of these!
I was looking for some healthy bars and here it is…thanks for sharing. It will be a good snacks between the meals and also help in avoiding calorific foods. Keep sharing different types of bars….healthy bars.
when do you at the old fashioned oats in? it was not in the instructions assuming it is with step 3…making them right now so I am going with that 🙂
See step 4:)
I love the taste of peanut butter and chocolate is favorite taste of my kids, so I must try this at home. I believe this desert can be kept in freezer to store for a long period, isn’t it?
Can do you all white flour if you don’t have wheat?
These bars are so good. A definite must for chocolate-peanut butter lovers. I love the oats in this, and I cut back the sugar just slightly. They were perfectly sweet!
Love these bars! Chocolate and PB is one of my favourite combos – so good! That chocolate frosting looks really addictive! I would definitely eat the entire pan of these!
These worked out really well – thanks for the recipe! Some tweaks: Didn’t feel like dragging out the mixer and so melted/softened the butter before mixing with PB and brown sugar (used light brown, that was all we had on hand, flavor was still rich), which was OK though perhaps slightly compromised the whipped-in-air factor. Also mixed in 1c mini chocolate chips into the batter because, and with no time to make frosting instead scattered large chips across the top while warm, put in the oven for another minute or so to melt, used an offset spatula to thinly “frost” the bars. They were good after cooling and then better after overnight in the fridge. Would definitely make these again!
can you please suggest why do I need to use 1/4 cup all-purpose flour and not a full cup of whole wheat flour, as I am really not aware of the importance of all-purpose flour.
You can use all whole wheat flour if you want to.
I don’t really like chocolate but these bars look so delicious to pass! Yum.
That’s a great recipe , thank for sharing!
Great recipes.. Thank you.
I made these and just made 1/2 of frosting recipe. Perfect!
A big hit with friends! I had to make my own fudge frosting because I was out of powdered sugar, but it tasted great on the bars. I used Maria’s recommended Guittard chips in my fudge frosting.
The best chocolate:) Glad you loved the recipe.