Vegan Peanut Butter Cookie Bars

Yum!  Easy and delicious vegan peanut butter cookie bars!  I don’t mean to yell at the beginning of every post, I just get super excited when I really love a new recipe.  

The peanut butter bars are oil-free, but not low-fat.  They’re soft, sweet, chewy, and they’ll taste better the next day (if you can wait that long to eat them).  They’re sweet, but not super sweet like store-bought cookie cakes (cookie bars remind me of cookie cakes).

So the plan for these peanut butter cookie bars was a soft gooey cookie, I didn’t want them hard and crunchy.  They are slightly under-baked to keep that gooeyness.  Then when they cool the peanut butter will firm back up so the bars aren’t crumbly.  

They may fall apart if you cut them while they’re still hot.  Let them cool completely for the peanut butter to firm back up.  Even better, let them chill overnight in the fridge.  The peanut butter firms up and it gives the bars a chewy texture and overall better flavor.

Tips for Using Natural Peanut Butter

I use natural peanut butter for this recipe, the kind you need to stir.  It will either have just peanuts as the only ingredient or peanuts and salt as the ingredients.  If you have a jar that’s just peanuts ground up, no other ingredients, then you’ll want to add ¼ teaspoon of salt.  If your jar contains peanuts and salt (being the only two ingredients) add just a pinch of salt.  

Smucker’s brand can be found at a lot of stores and makes a creamy natural peanut butter that’s just peanuts and salt. As a note, if you substitute with regular peanut butter (not natural), you may get different results since they usually contain oils and sweeteners.  

Also, even after stirring natural peanut butter, the contents at the bottom of the jar can be drier because the oil separates and moves to the top. After combining all of the wet ingredients for this recipe, the dough should be thick like cookie dough, very moldable, and not crumbly.  If the dough is too dry, add a tablespoon more of plant-based milk.

Tips Vegan Cookie Bars

After manipulating the parchment paper into the glass baking dish, I use wooden clips to hold it to the corners of the dish.  It helps keep the parchment paper in place while spooning the cookie dough into the dish.  Just remember to remove the clips before baking.

Whole Wheat Flour

I’m a big fan of whole wheat flour.  If you’re new to using whole grain flour instead of all-purpose, it can produce denser baked goods.  I’ve come to love the denser texture and slightly nutty flavor it adds to baked goods. 

Now, all-purpose flour tastes more bland and doughy, letting some baked goods taste more like just butter and sugar, which can be a good thing sometimes.  With all that in mind, I have tested the peanut butter chocolate chip bars with all-purpose flour and I wasn’t a fan.

How to Make Vegan Peanut Butter Cookie Bars

• First, preheat the oven to 350 F(180 C). Then, line an 8x8 inch glass baking dish with parchment paper.

• Then, mix together the peanut butter and sugar with the back of a fork until the sugar is mixed into the peanut butter.

• Then add the dairy-free milk and vanilla extract to the peanut butter mixture and whisk until smooth (a balloon whisk works well here). Make sure there are no large clumps, a few tiny lumps are fine.

• In a large bowl whisk together the whole-wheat flour, chocolate chips, ground flaxseed, baking powder, and salt.

• Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and mix together with a rubber or silicone spatula. The dough will be thick.  

• Press the cookie dough into the glass baking dish and spread it out to the corners. Use a silicone spatula to help spread the dough out.

• I like to use damp hands to pat down and smooth out the top before baking.

• Bake for 16-18 minutes. To test lightly press the top of the cookie dough (careful it’s hot), if your fingerprint stays, cook for another 1-2 minutes. The top should look set, puffed up, and spring back slightly when touched.
• The cookie bars need to cool completely to set, if you cut the bars while they’re too warm they’ll crumble. I let them cool for around 15 minutes in the dish, then lift them out with the sides of the parchment paper to a cooling rack to cool completely.
• Store in the refrigerator and they’ll firm up more (personal preference I think they test better the next day after chilling in the fridge).

More Vegan Oil-Free Desserts

• Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
• Chocolate Covered Cookie Dough Bites
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites
• Banana Nut Oatmeal Cookies
• Whole-Wheat Carrot Cake Muffins
• Vegan Dark Chocolate Raspberry Truffles
• Vegan Banana Bars with Chocolate Chips
• Vegan Chocolate Microwave Mug Cake (Oil-Free)

I hope you enjoy these dairy-free cookie bars!

Originally published on December 10, 2019, updated on November 2, 2021.