Here’s another super easy snack recipe to help us along in the Getting Ahead {Snacks} Challenge. These were a huge hit at our house – and so easy that I can definitely make these frequently!
Easy Peanut Butter Snack Bars
1 cup natural peanut butter (I use homemade creamy peanut butter)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sucanat
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat)
1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)
In a small saucepan, melt together peanut butter and butter. Pour mixture into a medium-sized bowl and stir in sucanat until creamy. Add eggs, vanilla, and salt, stirring well. Mix in flour until well combined. Spread mixture into a 9×13 inch baking dish. Bake in a 350° oven for about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips on top if desired. Cut into about 20 bars.
To freeze: Allow bars to cool completely. Wrap them individually to keep the bars moist. Place wrapped bars in a freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw for at least one hour before serving.
These make for great grab-and-go snacks!
Is there a substitute for the sucanat? I have organic coconut sugar but not sure if it would be the same measurement? These look so Yummy. Thanks for posting. I will definitely be following!
I’ve never used coconut sugar, but I would imagine that would work. Otherwise, honey (1/2 the amount) or brown sugar works too.
I sub coconut sugar for most recipes with sucanat/ rapudura. Tastes a little different- not bad- just not as sweet.
Like this morning, I made the apple sauce bread. I had made homeamde apple sauce with coconut sugar and then did coconut sugar and honey to sweeten the bread. Kids gobbled it up.
:) :)
I often sub coconut sugar because I can never find sucanat at Sprouts anymore. My kids don’t seems to notice a difference at all! And yes, I use the same measurement. :)
*seem* :)
These sound delicious, Laura! I can’t wait to try them.
Sounds so yummy! Always looking for new snack ideas!
Sorry I made these and they were not very good seemed like they were missing something I will not make again.
Sorry to hear that they didn’t work for you. We were 5 out of 6 in our family – and the only reason the 6th person didn’t like them is because he doesn’t like peanut butter. :)
These were a huge hit! I made them with earth balance coconut peanut butter. My 5 year old said they are “hysterically delicious” thanks for another great recipe!
I made these tonight and they were so oily from so much butter and kind of tasteless. They had a strange texture. The idea looked good though.
I made these with coconut sugar & GF oat flour. They are delicious & hold together. Both kids liked them, which is wonderful. Thanks for sharing!
I was wondering if you could stir in the chocolate chips into the batter and cook that way instead of sprinkling on top? My thought is they wouldn’t stick very well after baking.
That would work out great. :)
Actually, they stick fine because the bars are so hot that the chips sort of melt on the bottom, causing them to adhere to the bars.
Thank you so much for this recipe! It’s so quick and easy, and my kids love them!
Laura this is a delicious treat! Tastes more like a cookie, and for some reason looking at your photo I was expecting a cake like texture. Not sure why mine turned out like they did, but I’m not complaining one bit because they are absolutely delicious and I haven’t been able to stop eating them. I would definitely make this “snack” again and I think I’ll go enjoy one now!
I had a little trouble on this one – usually your recipes work out great for me, so I’m sure I messed something up. They ended up in a pool of oil/butter while baking. I ended up pouring a bunch of it off about halfway through the cooking time and a bit more at the end. I’m thinking maybe it was the peanut butter – it’s not my normal natural brand (but it was on clearance 99 cents for a 16 oz jar, so the bargain hunter in me couldn’t resist buying al three jars they had), so it has some oil in it already. I usually use the Costco brand that is only peanuts and salt, so maybe that would work better. Either that or I cooked the butter/peanut butter mixture too long because I was distracted – er, multi-tasking. Or maybe it’s supposed to be like that and then it soaks back in somehow??
I may try this one again with the Costco PB, or else I’ll just go back to your raspberry oatmeal bars. :)
Made this twice recently. The whole family enjoyed them as-is. I did find 20 mins cook time was better than 25 for my oven. Next time I’ll sub 1/2 the flour with cocoa powder for a fun change. Thanks for this recipe!