These Chunky, Chewy Peanut Butter Bars are so over the top! I packed in 18 (Eighteen!) full size Reese's peanut butter cups, peanut butter flavored chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and chunky peanut butter into a moist, chewy peanut butter bar. Extravagant? Definitely! But so delicious!
Just how I like my bars - lots and lots of candy and just enough batter to hold it all together! You'd think they would be overly sweet with all that candy inside, but the saltiness of the peanut butter makes a perfect balance.
The base for these Over the Top Chunky, Chewy Peanut Butter Bars is a moist, chewy blondie flavored with chunky peanut butter and brown sugar. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and peanut butter flavored chips intensify the peanut flavor. Semi-sweet chocolate chips add richness and balance the slightly salty taste.
I use ¼ to ½ teaspoon of salt in the blondie batter, depending on my mood. Using ½ a teaspoon gives a more salty-sweet combination and really brings out the peanut butter. Using ¼ teaspoon makes a milder, sweeter bar.
These Chewy, Chunky Peanut Butter Bars are delicious warm or cold. My favorite way eating them is cold, straight from the refrigerator when they are dense and fudgy. If you really want to go way over the top, serve them warm with a scoop of French Vanilla Ice Cream 🙂
Chunky, Chewy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Bars
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (177g)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (215g)
- 8 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled (113g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup chunky peanut butter (133g)
- 18 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, cut in quarters
- ½ cup peanut butter-flavored chips (85g)
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (85g)
- extra peanut butter cups and chips for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. See note*
- Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and grated nutmeg in a bowl and whisk to combine.
- In another mixing bowl, whisk eggs. Add brown, cooled melted butter, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth.
- Add peanut butter and whisk until smooth.
- Remove 1 tablespoon from the flour mixture and toss with peanut butter and chocolate chips.
- Add flour mixture to wet mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until combined.
- Add peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, and chopped Reese’s cups and stir gently to combine.
- Transfer mixture to prepared baking pan and smooth.
- Bake until set and golden on the edges, about 30 minutes. Do not overbake.
- Let cool completely before cutting into squares.
Notes
*The key to success with these bars is to not overbake them.
*I use a baking pan with a removable bottom so that the bars come out perfectly neat.
*To make it easier to lift bars out of a normal pan, line pan with aluminum foil, leaving an inch or two over hang. When bars have cooled, just lift out of the pan before cutting into squares
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