A retro chewy bar cookie loaded with crunchy peanut butter and chopped peanuts. If you are a peanut butter lover, these bars are for you!
Peanut Butter and Baked Goods
These crunchy peanut butter bars star ingredient: peanut butter, was introduced in the U.S. at the St. Louis World Fair in 1904, although it was probably around a lot longer than that. Bakers have had a love of adding peanut butter to baked goods for decades. It remains one of the most popular flavors today for cookies, bars and other sweets. You can find usually find many recipes containing peanut butter in older and vintage cookbooks and baking recipes containing peanut butter continue to evolve today.
About this Recipe
These Crunchy Peanut Butter Bars are a retro recipe that were adapted from a 1970’s farming cookbook of my Grandma’s. These bars come together easily and make a large batch that bake up in a 15″x10″ jelly roll pan. They are perfect to make when you need to make something sweet and need a large quantity for this reason.
These peanut butter bars are chewy and similar to a peanut butter cookie. They get their crunch from both crunchy peanut butter and additional chopped peanuts. If you are not a crunchy peanut butter fan, you can omit the chopped peanuts and use creamy peanut butter instead, although the chopped peanuts add texture to these bars.
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar
- Crunchy peanut butter
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Chopped peanuts
Making these crunchy peanut butter bars is really easy. First, the dry ingredients of all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt are sifted. Then, the unsalted butter and sugars are creamed together until light. Eggs, vanilla extract and crunchy peanut butter are added to the creamed mixture, followed by the sifted dry ingredients. Chopped peanuts are folded in before the batter is spread into a jelly roll pan and the bars are baked. See additional tips below for storage.
Tips for Crunchy Peanut Butter Bars
- Store baked bar cookies in an airtight container up to 72 hours
- Freeze baked bar cookies in an airtight container up to 45 days
- This recipe has not been tested with natural peanut butter
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Crunchy Peanut Butter Bars
Equipment
- 15"x10" jelly roll pan
- mixing bowls of various sizes
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup finely chopped peanuts
Instructions
- Whisk or sift all dry ingredients (2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 3/4 tsp baking powder, 3/4 tsp saltin a small mixing bowl.
- In large mixing bowl, cream 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened, 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar and 3/4 cup brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add in 3 large eggs, one at a time followed by 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Add dry ingredients, mix only until combined. Fold in 1/4 cup finely chopped peanuts
- Spread in greased 15"x10" jelly roll pan and bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into center of pan.
- Cool pan on wire rack completely before cutting into bars.
Notes
- Store baked bar cookies in an airtight container up to 72 hours
- Freeze baked bar cookies in an airtight container up to 45 days
- This recipe has not been tested with natural peanut butter