I love a good no-bake cookie. I’ve made them for this blog a couple of times (and for myself many, many more times). But, what if I changed up the form factor a little? What happens to the cookies? The answer: something delicious.
The recipe itself is a little different, and the flavor changes, so if you want a more classic cookie, check these out.
A no-bake bar takes all of the same basic ingredients as the cookies to start. You have your peanut butter, your chocolate, your oats, your sugar, the usual suspects. But, through layering, you end up with something different. They have the same chewy, crumbly texture, but the flavor profile ends up being more peanut butter forward, which I like a lot.
On piece of advice that might make your experience a little easier than mine is to line your baking dish with a bit of parchment paper, with enough overhang to grab. This is a trick I use a lot to help remove desserts from the dish without needing to scrape and dig for it. The bars don’t stick too badly, but it’s still handy to be able to remove them before cutting instead of after, you know?
No-Bake Cookie Bars
Equipment
- 9×9" Baking Dish
- 2 Sauce Pans
- Rubber Spatula
- Parchment Paper Optional; see post for details.
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Butter
- ½ Cup Packed Brown Sugar
- 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3 Cups Quick-Cook Oats
- 1 Cup Milk Chocolate Chips
- ½ Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
Instructions
- Grease the bottom and sides of your baking dish. If you want, line the dish with parchment paper for easy removal later.
- In your sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat, stirring it to keep it from burning. Once melted, stir in the brown sugar and vanilla extract, and mix until the sugar is melted and smooth.1 Cup Butter, ½ Cup Packed Brown Sugar, 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- Add your oats to the mix and stir to coat them. Keep stirring over the heat for about 3 minutes, to partially cook and soften the oats.3 Cups Quick-Cook Oats
- Take half of the oat mixture and press it into the bottom of your baking dish to form a bottom crust.
- In another sauce pan, melt your peanut butter. Once it's melted, add in the chocolate chips and stir it until it's all smooth and melted. Pour this chocolate over your oat crust in an even layer.1 Cup Milk Chocolate Chips, ½ Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
- Use the remaining oat mixture as a topping by crumbling it evenly across the surface.
- Cover and chill your bars in the fridge for two hours, before removing to slice and enjoy.