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Peanut Butter Bar Cookie Recipe

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Peanut butter cookies are not difficult to make. It’s just that baking
cookies always takes longer than I want to spend when I am craving a
sweet right now. This was the case yesterday when I wanted a peanut
butter cookie (which you can’t just buy in New Zealand), but I had a
ton of stuff to get done. So, I made a quick search through my
cookbooks and the web for a shortcut. I was thinking, “Why not just
bake peanut butter cookies as a bar cookie?” But I wanted to ensure I
had the right volume of dough for the pan, some idea of cooking time,
and guidance on any changes to leavening. Unfortunately, I could not
find a single recipe that looked like a simple pb cookie baked as a
bar. Most recipes for “Peanut Butter Bar Cookies” contained oats, which
seemed completely wrong. The rest had either chocolate, peanutbutter
chips, or peanut butter cups in them, or a thick frosting on them, none
of which makes a good old fashioned peanut butter cookie.

Eventually, when it started appearing that it was going to be faster to
bake pb cookies than find a shortcut, I decided to risk making my own
recipe. I used the Blondie recipe from Joy of Cooking and one of the
simplest of the bar recipes with oats to concoct the recipe below. It
worked!

Note:  When I tasted the dough it
didn’t seem sweet enough, so I added some honey, which radically
changes the flavor from a standard pb cookie but tastes fantastic. If
you are going for the classic, substitute 2 Tablespoons sugar plus 1
teaspoon vanilla  for the honey.

Easy Peanut Butter Bar Cookies

Peanut Butter Honey Bar Cookies

1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons honey
1 egg
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350’F (180’C). Lightly butter an 8 inch x 8 inch pan.
In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter and sugar. Cream in the
honey and egg. Stir the baking soda into the flour, then stir flour
into the
butter mixture. Spread dough evenly into pan. Bake in the top
of the oven for 15-20 minutes, until center is puffy and golden. Cool
pan on a rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting. Makes 16 generous
bars.

Comments

Peanut Butter Bar Cookie Recipe — 7 Comments

  1. It’s good to know that you substitute 2 Tablespoons sugar plus 1 teaspoon vanilla for the honey.
    I’ll try it on this weekend. Thanks for the idea…

  2. Pingback:Delicious Bar Cookies - Triple Layer Chocolate Bars And Cranberry Coconut Bars | Salad Dessert

  3. I tried these today (w/out the honey) and unfortunately i forgot to add the peanut butter until after the flour step (i skimmed over and forgot it was one of the ‘butters!’ in the beginning. Anyway, it turned out yummy. I actually topped mine w/ a layer of nutella and an oatmeal crumble on top. Thanks for the idea!

  4. Thanks Izzi- glad it worked out in the end! I clarified the instructions so no one else has the same “oops!” Nutella on top- yum! I think you just set off a new craving…

  5. Thank you! I’ve been searching for the past hour for a recipe like this! I’m too lazy today to make actual cookies, so I wanted to make a bar cookie…no oatmeal and not a brownie!!

  6. I got a recipe years ago from an older gentleman that I worked with, his wife sent some peanut butter bars to work one day to share, they were delish. My children were little then, they loved this recipe. I lost my recipe and over the years forgot how to make them, my children were all snowed in with us Christmas and asked for peanut butter bars. After searching some time I found this recipe and have just put them in the oven…….keeping my fingers crossed. They look the same and have the same texture so far, however, I don’t remember using brown suger. Can’t wait to try them. Will let you know if they are the same as the ones I baked years ago.

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