Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars

By srumbel

And they taste like the lovechild of a chocolate chip cookie and a Reeses peanut butter cup. If Nestlé and Hersheys were to collaborate on a dessert, I’m pretty sure they’d come up with something along the lines of these gooeylicious chocolate chip peanut butter bars. Every bite is like a chocolate peanut butter fantasy.
from chocolatecoveredkatie.com

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1 cup peanut butter OR allergy-friendly alternative (nut-free recipe here)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp flour – you can use spelt, white, sorghum, oat, almond, even or buckwheat (50g)
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar of choice or xylitol
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips (can be omitted)
• up to 2 tbsp milk of choice, only if needed

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8-inch baking pan and set aside. In a mixing bowl, gently heat your nut butter if it is not already stir-able, then stir in the applesauce and vanilla extract, and set aside. In a separate mixing bowl, stir together the baking soda, salt, flour, sugar, and chocolate chips. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and keep stirring—it will seem very dry at first, so you’ll need to break up the nut butter and stop occasionally to scrape it off your spoon. Only if needed, slowly add up to 2 tbsp milk of choice as you stir. Don’t add more milk; it will eventually get gooey like cookie dough. Transfer the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth down evenly with a spatula or spoon. Press some chocolate chips into the top if desired. Bake 10 minutes. When you take the peanut butter bars out, the top will look set but they will still be very undercooked underneath. This is okay! Leave them to cool for at least 20 minutes, during which time they will firm up.

(Makes 12-16 bars)