Some friends from out of town were visiting last weekend, so at the eleventh hour I whipped up a batch of peanut butter chocolate chip bars. They were a big hit!
Apparently it’s popular to add a cup of chopped peanuts to the batter along with the chocolate chips; I’ll leave that up to you. Personally, I’m averse to peanuts in baked goods; I think they interrupt an otherwise soothing tactile experience. Who ever thought up putting peanuts into a perfectly good peanut butter cookie? Don’t even think about pulling that on me!
These bars are traditional and bakery-style: soft, dense, and slightly chewy. They are structurally similar to blondies and are pretty freakin’ fantastic, if I do say so myself.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp ground flax seeds
- ⅓ c warm water
- ¾ c creamy, sweetened peanut butter
- 3 tbsp oil
- 1 c turbinado (or light brown) sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ c flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 c vegan chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Grease a 9×9″ baking pan.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flax seeds and water. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together peanut butter, oil, and sugar.
- Add vanilla and beat well.
- Beat in flax mixture.
- In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add dry to wet mixture; mix well. The texture will be similar to cookie dough.
- Fold in chocolate chips.
- Press mixture evenly into prepared pan, and bake for 18-22 minutes, or until top is golden.
- Let cool in pan; slice and serve.
10 comments
Marielelundi says:
Jun 20, 2012
Thank you!!!
claryn says:
Jun 21, 2012
You’re very welcome!
sara says:
Jun 30, 2012
do you think i could use whole wheat flour?
claryn says:
Jul 1, 2012
I haven’t done it myself, and am skeptical of how it would change the texture and flavor, but if you do try it, definitely let me know how it turns out!
Dorian Gray says:
Nov 4, 2012
I just made these, I sub 1 C of flour with whole wheat flour, they came out yummy. Had to add much more water than the recipe asks for though (I added soy milk, cannot bake with water).
Totally yummy!
Thank you.
Amy says:
Nov 5, 2012
I tried this recipe, and I agree with Dorian. I needed to add more than double the amount of water that was originally called for. However, this recipe was delicious and moist when it was finished baking. I brought the batch to work, and they disappeared. I only told a few people they were vegan.
I’m going with a 4 rating because I did have to adjust the recipe, but the flavor is a 5!!!
Michele says:
Dec 22, 2012
I made it with my 7 year old grand-daughter. I did, however, like Amy above, add about 7-8 tablespoons of water at the end when combining wet and dry, instead of the 3 tbs. called for in order to achieve the right consistency of a cookie dough. I used 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour. The results were delicious. Definately a keeper!
claryn says:
Dec 24, 2012
Thanks for the note Michele! I’ve fixed the water proportions.
Aaron says:
Jan 22, 2013
Hey, this is cooling on my counter right now and looks amazing! But there are a couple of places where the recipe gets confusing. You don’t ever say to add the vanilla (I just added it to the initial wet ingredients) or the flax mixture (I added it after the dry ingredients). I’m also not really sure why the recipe calls for mixing the water & flax in a “medium bowl” — a cup will do. Mine seems to have come out awesome regardless, but I was a little concerned halfway through
claryn says:
Feb 5, 2013
Glad you liked it, Aaron! I actually just made these again a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve updated the recipe to be more clear