A truly MAGICAL gooey nutty chocolate treat – chocolate cookie crust, peanut butter on top, lots of chocolate chips, and NO sweetened condensed milk!
All this time magic cookie bars have gotten away with calling themselves magic while containing zero peanut butter. It’s disgraceful.
I fully own up to being a part of the problem, but these Chocolate PEANUT BUTTER Magic Bars and I are here to make things right. Because gooey peanut butter bars crammed with chocolate chips sitting atop a chunky brownie(ish) crust are the ultimate peace offering. Always. Can you think of any situations to the contrary…? Nope, me neither.
As already yum as that title sounds, there is extra between-the-lines yum that makes this scenario even better. Because I don’t make my magic bars with sweetened condensed milk, I make them with bananas. Sounds very non-interchangeable I know, but trust me it works here. And you know what else WORKS? Chocolate plus peanut butter plus banana – yep, the whole yummy fam is together again.
The crust. Let’s talk about this NOT un-chunky chocolate crust. I tested two versions: 1) with coconut flour (let’s not talk about it) 2) with oat flour (ahh, much better). I think coconut flour is confused on the difference between desert and dessert.
The oat crust is thick and chewy and chocolatey. FYI it’s less thick if you eat a lot of the dough while mixing (why tradeoffs, whyyyyyy?). And it’s made with just four simple in-your-pantry ingredients.
But here’s the thing. We’ve made enough magic bar variations at this point that you have options:
- Oat flour crust. The version pictured in this post. Peanut butter flavor included.
- Almond flour crust. Very rich and buttery. No peanut flavor. Like this but chocolate.
- Date nut crust. No flour and fruit-sweetened. Like this but with peanuts and chocolate.
- Coconut flour crust. No.
My favorite is the almond flour one…surprise, surprise. Almond flour why must you be so good for everything except my budget? I included details for how to make each in the recipe notes.
Once the crust is done and pressed and waiting, the rest is easy.
The PB magic. You will need ripe bananas. And peanut butter. And chocolate chips. And peanuts. And WHAT IS WITH THE WINTER BANANA RIPENING RATE?
It takes practically a full day per brown speckle-y spot. What do they think we are, patient or something? So you should buy them right now today otherwise you won’t be making these until 2019.
Into the blender goes those (finally) ripe bananas along with peanut butter and a generous pinch of salt if your PB is unsalted. Same goes for the crust – just salt this whole situation up because both chocolate and peanut butter are MUCH better that way. Have you ever looked at the sodium content on a Reese’s cup? Me either, hang on…okay it’s actually not that high. Wait…did I just discover a potential area for improvement in America’s favorite candy? *insert astonished face emoji*
Anyways! Bananas > peanut butter > blend it up. You can use powdered peanut butter here, I tested it. But I think we both know which will be dessert-ier. But I cannot vouch for what will happen if you use frozen bananas instead of fresh
Pour that peanut butter banana “soup” mixture on top of the crust BEFORE sprinkling on the chocolate chips and chopped peanuts. And if the chopped peanuts somehow MAGICally turned into more chocolate chips (or chocolate chunks, yassss!) it would not be a bad day.
Peanut free? If you don’t do peanuts, replace all the peanut butter with almond butter and all the chopped peanuts with chopped almonds. Or any nut/nut butter. Chocolate Peanut Almond Butter Magic Bars comin atcha! Forget I even mentioned peanuts (34 times), and enjoy my peanut free friend.
While I did include some lower fat options and fruit-sweetening ideas for ya too, this isn’t a breakfast bar. This is a dessert bar. A magic dessert bar. So I say be generous with your chocolate chip scattering, plop in the real deal peanut butter, and just cherish them in all their indulgently gooey PB&C glory.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Magic Bars
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 6 bars 1x
- Category: dessert
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: american
Description
A truly MAGICAL gooey nutty chocolate treat – chocolate cookie crust, peanut butter on top, lots of chocolate chips, and NO sweetened condensed milk!
Ingredients
Crust (see notes for grain/sugar free options)
- 2/3 cup (80g) oat flour
- 1/3 cup (35g) cacao powder
- 1/3 cup (90g) peanut butter (or any nut/seed butter)
- 1/4 cup (90g) maple syrup
- 3–4 tbsp water
Peanut Butter Layer
- 3 large bananas (325g)
- 1/4 cup (65g) peanut butter (can sub powdered peanut butter 25g)
- 1/2 cup (60g) chopped peanuts
- 3/4 cup (120g) chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- For the crust, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix. If it’s too dry/crumbly (depends on how thick/runny your nut butter is) add water slowly until you have a sticky dough.
- Press into a glass baking dish or loaf pan lined with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a blender, combine the bananas and peanut butter (or powdered peanut butter). Blend until smooth.
- Pour on top of the crust.
- Sprinkle the chocolate chips and chopped peanuts on top. Press them in until fully submerged.
- Bake for approximately 40 minutes at 350F.
- Remove from the oven and cool, then refrigerate overnight.
- The following day, slice into squares and enjoy! Keep leftovers in the fridge.
Notes
For a grain-free crust: Mix together 1 1/4 cup almond flour (150g) + 1/4 cup cacao powder (25g) + 2-3 tbsp maple syrup For a date-sweetened crust: Combine in a blender of food processor 1 1/2 cup peanuts (180g) + 8 pitted medjool dates (150g) + 1/4 cup cacao powder (25g)
Keywords: dessert, chocolate, easy, vegan, gluten-free, peanut butter
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I think this is your funniest post yet, I laughed out loud at the coconut flour shade. Great job!
lolol! And now I cam cracking up at you calling it “coconut flour shade”😂 Thanks for reading Miki, glad I could lighten up your monday!
These look amazing! I have a silly question. If I were to use powdered pb, would I reconstitute it first? Thanks. 🙂
My question too!
Hi Aimee! Nope, you can just add it to the bananas after you puree them, there is enough liquid as is. If it seems really thick you can add some water or milk, but when I tested it no extra liquid was needed 🙂
Awesome, thank you! 🙂
EVERYTHING about these looks like total perfection!! Cause of course you can never go wrong with PB + chocolate, but throw banana in there and I’ll take 5 batches. Also LOL-ed at coconut flour not knowing the difference between desert and dessert, SO true haha. These look truly magical and totally live up to their name, Natalie!!
I KNOW you are right there with me on the adoration of this killer combo! Oh coconut flour, you have not yet earned your way into the magical desserts😂 Keep trying. Five batches coming right up…as soon as those dang bananas ripen😬 xo
I laughed out loud at this post Natalie! Winter ripening rate 😂 I’m making these today so I’ll let you know manana but I’m letting you know now I’m positive they’ll be ahmaaaazing!
Haha thanks for reading Diana! Seriously though, bring back the humidity please so I can make more banana cookies already🙄 Woohoo can’t wait to hear all about em!
Oh, yum! If these are as delightful as your blueberry magic bars, I’m in for a heavenly treat!
And, OMG I have totally noticed the issue with lack-of ripening bananas the past few months. Separating them individually from the bunch somewhat helps. But I still refuse to buy the all green ones – because it would be torture to wait til 2019 to make these chocolate + peanut butter beauties!
Omg can you imagine an epic purple chocolate nutty berry-studded mashup of the two…😮 You are giving me crazy epic ideas girly! Ugh yes, 80 degrees and humid as heck really does speed up my rate to banana bread. But I am working on patience one banana bunch at a time😂 Oooh great tip on the separating thing–will try!
These look and sound amazing!!! Just curious, do you these would hold up if I didn’t add any of the chocolate chips and chopped peanuts into the banana and peanut butter spread? I’ve got all but those two ingredients at home. Thanks for all you do!!! Yum!!!
Hmm that is a very good question, I haven’t tried it but I think yes it will still bake and set fine without the mix-ins. Although I would suggest the almond flour crust in that case as its much richer and without the chocolate chips for all their richness it will taste best. Just my opinion. Happy baking Heidi!
Thanks! I’ll give it a shot! 🙂
Amazing! If using Powdered Peanut Butter (i.e. PB2) how many grams do I add to the pureed bananas?
Oh thank you for reminding me, I forgot the weight for that one! It’s 25g of the powdered pb 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
You are hilarious!! The comment “No.” next to coconut flour, hahaha! Then the banana-ripening comment and then your first reader comment about the coconut flour shade…this whole post has me laughing! But has me smiling is the chocolate and peanut butter is in fact pure MAGIC together…nobody on this planet can argue with that. These definitely look magical, heavenly, rich, decadent and oh yes, a dessert bar. Love that you said it’s not a breakfast bar, lmao! Right?? Sometimes when people want to turn a decadent treat into a healthy breakfast, I’m just like, NO, you will upset the dessert, upset me anndddd upset your taste buds. Just make it as is, haha. These look fantastic and all those chocolate chips just make me so happy!
Lolol I loved the coconut flour “shade” part too, there is a lot of that on the internet with all the times coconut flour has failed so many of us😆 I mean come on there is practically an entire cup of full-size chocolate chips, I think the DESSERT part should go without saying. Bahahaha “upset the dessert” Yes the bars will be very offended if consumed before noon, and so will I. Don’t mess with the peanut butter chocolate chip status quo please😂 Happy wednesday Brandi!
These sound super yummy! I was wondering if you use salted or unsalted peanuts for the topping?
I used roasted and unsalted peanuts, but salted would be fine too! I love a little salt with anything chocolate, although if your peanut butter is already salted as well it may be too much altogether. Happy baking!
Should Carob powder work instead of Cacao powder in this recipe ? I’m allergic to Cacao (and Chocolate) but I’d love to try baking something like these bars :=)
Yep, carob will be fine! And carob chips for the top layer too. Hope you enjoy 🙂
Tried them for the first time and they are superdelicious!! Thank you very much for the recipe. Wish you the best, greetings from Germany 🙂
★★★★★
Haha love the word! I am so happy you liked them Hannah 🙂 Happy weekend!
I made these with the PB powder option, they were just amazing! We loved them so much. Breakfast/dessert/snack. They were gone in 2.5 days :’D I’ll definitely make them again!
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Woohoo!! Rate of devouring is directly linked to yumminess factor so it sounds like they were quite a success🤗
YUM! These sound amazing! Do you think they would freeze ok?
The texture is never AS good with baked goods after they defrost, but yes I think they will be fine 🙂
Do you know around how many calories these would be per bar? I can figure it out if you don’t just wondering
Haven’t calculated the nutrition for this one, sorry!
Hi there! If I was to use the almond flour base option — should i be adding peanut butter as well?
And could you please tell me what size pan I should be using?
Nope, no peanut butter in the almond flour crust, just almond flour + cacao + maple syrup. The flour itself has enough natural moisture/oil you won’t need it. And the pan I used is 5×7″😊
Thank you! Do you think I could add some PB2 powder to make the base more peanutty?
Sure! It’s very drying though so reduce the amount of flour to compensate😊
Thanks so much! Do you think I could add some PB2 powder to the base to make it more peanut-flavoured?
Thanks for this recipe! I don’t eat peanuts, but have been using this as a base to play around with all sorts of options, sometimes with sunbutter, sometimes with tahini, both good. My favorite crust combo so far: teff flour/dates/cocoa powder/coconut oil– it makes this amazing chocolate shortbread texture/flavor. I love it! Put that together with a thimbleberry/banana layer or a blueberry/pear layer… so good! Amaranth flour also works nicely for the crust. Thanks for the inspiration! 🙂
Oh I love the sound of your version, thanks for sharing and so happy you are having fun with this recipe Kri!
Holy shit Natalie! These are fantastic! I made these with the oat flour crust, added vanilla extract to the banana layer, and left off the peanuts while also dialing down the chocolate chips (I ran out! lol). They turned out sooo indulgent- in fact, if I were to make these again, I would probably still add only 40-50g.
As far as banana ripening goes, I have a hack that might help you. Gently push in the sides of the banana until it loses some of its form. It will begin to caramelize into the most perfect baking banana in just a few days (;
★★★★★
I am SO thrilled to hear that you loved them!! Aren’t they super gooey and indulgent tasting especially considering how healthy-ish they are🤗 Good to know on the choc chip amount, and I have never heard this hack so ABSOLUTELY trying that soon. Appreciate you for sharing!
Ah yes, I actually came up with it on a whim during my banana bread phase this past winter. The top layer of these bars actually reminds me a bit of a cheesecake- firm but still creamy, just a little jiggly. The OG magic bars have nothing on these. I mean come on, faux-banana condensed milk? Life is truly stranger than fiction. But I digress…. the real reason I popped on here is to confirm that these are indeed amazing frozen (as if we had any doubts!)
Hi Natalie,
I was wondering if I could replace any of the almond flour (or oat flour) with flaxseed in the crust (and whether you think it would be detectable)
I’ve never tried that and I find the taste of flax is quite strong so I imagine you will know its there. You could experiment, but I’d smart with just a few tbsp and swap it for some of the oat flour not the almond. Good luck!
Hey Nat,
My grandma is fan of Peanuts since child, she was eating whole peanuts when she were young and it is her birthday soon so these Chocolate Peanut Butter Magic Bars would be great for her!
#PAN
You say Glass Didh but what would be a good size please?
Same as Blondies 5×7
Or
Easy Fudge Brownies 9×6
Square Pan 8×8
Loaf Pan (dimensions?)
Or else?
Thanks Nat!
Henri 😉
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