The combination of peanut butter and oats is a favorite and I never tire of it. And I’ll never tire of no-bake granola bars that taste like peanut butter oatmeal cookies, topped with melted butterscotch. Granola bars with an abundance of hearty, oaty texture, shoot straight to the top of my list. It’s better to spend time chewing hearty oats than inhaling handfuls of caramel corn and these granola bars are loaded with texture. And anything that’s robustly peanut butter flavored is another huge bonus for me. I love peanut butter and it makes a great binder for no-bake granola bars. What a fortuitously sticky stroke of luck.
Normally I make granola bars in the microwave or the food processor, but decided to use the stovetop to melt the ingredients. It was really chilly in my kitchen the day I made these and wanted to turn the stove. The recipe and method reminded me of a cold day over a year ago making Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Squares. It’s funny how looking back at old recipes I can remember things like if the house was cold or not and my overall mood the day I created something. In a large kettle, combine butter or margarine (to keep vegan), sugars, milk (regular, soy, or nut-milk) and heat over medium heat to melt the ingredients, stirring to encourage melting. After the ingredients are smooth and combined, allow mixture to come to a fairly rapid boil for 90 seconds, stirring intermittently and as often as needed so it doesn’t boil over. Put on a hot-mitt and use caution because the mixture is in the 220F degree range, and you don’t want this bubbling up on your forearm. Everyone’s definition of ‘rapid boil’ is different, but the goal is to reduce and thicken the mixture slightly by boiling it. And in doing so, the beginning stages of a caramel sauce are being made; butter, sugar, cream (milk) is what caramels are. The sauce doesn’t turn as thick as regular caramel sauce, but it’s sweet, sticky, and will help the oats stick together and the bars to hold their shape.
After 90 seconds, shut off the heat and add the peanut butter, vanilla, and stir to combine. If the peanut butter is stubborn and doesn’t want to incorporate easily, turn the stove back on low just momentarily. After the sauce is smooth and combined, add the oats. Use whole rolled old-fashioned oats and not quick cook or instant. Quick cooks oats are smaller, more broken down, and behave more like flour. You don’t want 3 cups of flour in this recipe, but 3 cups of whole-rolled oats is just dandy. Stir them in and then add the Rice Krispies or vegan crispy rice cereal. Adding rice cereal is a trick I learned when I made Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars. The crunchy, crispy effect in each bite adds another layer of texture and dimension. Plus, cereal soaks up excess caramely-peanut butter sauce. The mixture will look a little on the soupy side, but as the bars cool and set up, it all soaks in. If you try to make the batter drier at this stage by adding more oats or cereal as I’ve mistakenly done, the finished bars set up too dry and are very prone to crumbling and don’t hold together. Some soupiness is welcome.
Transfer the mixture into a prepared foil-lined pan. Smooth and pack down the mixture quite firmly with a spatula to compact it. I used an 8-by-8-inch pan and although the batter will appear to come up fairly high on the sides of the pan, the sliced bars aren’t overly thick. I’d rather err on the thicker than thinner side, but if you prefer thinner bars, use a 9-by-9-inch pan. Thick, densely packed bars, like my favorite Browned Butter Rice Krispies Treats, and really being able to sink my teeth into a big mouthful is the best. Place the pan in refrigerator for at least 3 hours, or overnight, before slicing. Remember how hot that boiling caramel mixture was and if you try to slice them too early, you’ll have a literal hot mess on your hands. Even after being in the refrigerator for 18 hours, the bars weren’t difficult to slice through. Some things turn into rocks in the fridge, but these don’t.
I made 12 bars, about 3/4-inch wide by 4-inchs long, but do as you wish. Because they’re dense and hearty, you really don’t need a big bar. I try to keep bars like this in the caloric realm of a snack, not a bar-as-meal, tasty as eating peanut butter and oats for dinner sounds. Optionally, either before (easier) or after (prettier) slicing them, drizzle them with melted butterscotch chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, or peanut butter chips to keep vegan. The sweet, smooth, melted butterscotch is a nice contrast to the hearty oats. A tip when melting butterscotch chips, or white chocolate for that matter, is to add a dollop of butter to the chips. Both are notoriously easy to scorch and butterscotch will seize almost instantly without the butter. Heat in 10-second bursts in the microwave until the mixture can be stirred smooth and don’t over-heat. You’re only melting a quarter cup and it’ll melt very fast, 15 seconds or so. Drizzle that luscious creaminess over the bars.
I feel like I should hit a rugged trail with one of these hearty granola bars in my backpack. In that sense, they remind me of the Thick and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies I recently made. They’re not some flimsy little granola bar and are rugged and substantial. They’re dense, filling, and satisfying. Some granola bars are so wimpy and puny that after eating one, you pretty much have to have another to feel satisfied but not with these. One is good and gives me energy for hours. I try to make as much of my family’s snack food for lunch boxes as I can, not only to control the ingredients, but to save money, and these are a very economical way to go compared to storebought. And taste-wise, they were a hit with my family. Then again, a granola bar that tastes like a peanut butter oatmeal cookie will generally be met with positive reviews. The peanut butter flavor is pronounced and takes center stage. They’re definitely more peanut butter-oatmeal than oatmeal-peanut butter, which I’ll never complain about.
Related Recipes:
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars (no-bake, vegan, GF) – (no-bake, vegan, GF) – My favorite all-around no-bake granola bar and a reader favorite. Produces bars like Quaker Chewy granola bars. Bars can be customized easily based on what you have on hand and like fom peanut butter, almond butter, sunflower seed butter; to raisins, white chocolate chips, or coconut flakes; to M&Ms or Reese’s Pieces for a more candy-like bar. You can customize them easily with just about anything you enjoy Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes!
Snickerdoodle Cookie Granola Bars (no-bake, vegan, GF) – Snickerdoodle cookies are one of my favorites and these easy, dense granola bars have remarkable similarity to the cookies. They’ve been very popular with readers and people have written in with high praise for the cinnamon-sugary bars with an optional white chocolate drizzle
Sunflower Seed Butter Granola Bars with Chocolate Drizzle (no-bake, vegan, GF) – – Made with one of my favorite nut butters, sunflower seed butter. It has a distinctively bold, yet slightly sweet flavor. By combining sunflower seed butter, agave, and Medjool dates with oats in a food processor, these no-bake granola bars come together in minutes. Fast, easy, very chewy and texture-filled
Cinnamon Oatmeal Date Bars with Chocolate Chunks (no-bake, vegan, gluten-free) – (no-bake, vegan, GF) – If you omit the chocolate that’s used two ways on top of these bars, they’re quite healthy. Minus the chocolate, the bars themselves are just oats and dates, bound together by peanut butter, and I love them
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies – One of my favorite cookies on my site and very easy to make. No mixer required and perfect for times when you can’t decide between a chocolate chip, peanut butter, or oatmeal cookie. This cookie has all three-in-one
Special K Bars (no-bake) – My grandma’s recipe that I’ve eaten since childhood and I love them. As I was making today’s recipe, there are many similarities to the way the recipe starts, boiling the mixture, then adding peanut butter, and in my Grandma’s recipe, Special K rather than oats are used
Nutter Butter Special K Bars (no-bake) – A twist on the above with the addition of ground Nutter Butter cookies. Dense, rich, and easy
Nutella and Peanut Butter Graham Bars (no-bake) – An all-star lineup of Nutella, peanut butter, butter, graham crackers, and chocolate chips produces sink-your-teeth in dense, fast, sweet and easy bars
Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Squares (no-bake, vegan, GF) – This recipe starts out similar to today’s recipe, by melting butter and sugar and eventually stirring in oats, but chocolate is used along with peanut butter
Do you have a favorite granola bar or no-bake bar recipe? Fan of peanut butter or oats? Tell me about your favorites and feel free to leave links. Happy Valentine’s Day!
