Lunch Lady Peanut Butter Bars

You have the lunch lady to thank for these old school cafeteria-style Peanut Butter Cookie Bars that have a chewy peanut butter oatmeal cookie base and a thin layer of salty-sweet melted peanut butter underneath those rich swirls of chocolate frosting.

If you want more easy peanut butter desserts, be sure to also check out our Copycat Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies, Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies, and No-Bake Peanut Butter Pie!

Table of Contents

1. Why this Recipe Works
2. Ingredient Notes
3. How to Make This Recipe
4. Recipe FAQ's
5. Recipe Tips
6. More Dessert Bar Recipes
7. Lunch Lady Peanut Butter Bars Recipe

These peanut butter oatmeal bars with chocolate frosting are dangerous to have around. I can't make them for just my family of four unless we are having friends over or we are taking them someplace because I legit cannot resist the temptation. They are great for a crowd and things like potlucks, picnics, and bake sales.

I was recently reminded of these peanut butter cookie bars when we went to a place in Utah called Blox Dessert Bars. One of their signature dessert bars is called "The Skippy" which is a peanut butter blondie with chewy oats that is topped with a layer of melted peanut butter and rich chocolate frosting.

You might know or remember them as "lunch lady peanut butter bars" if you grew up in a certain era. I grew up back when school cafeteria lunch was still pretty decent. Sloppy joe day was always my personal favorite.

But what I really remember are the treats that the lunch ladies would make. I practically subsisted on the chewiest, thickest rice krispies treats with super stretchy marshmallows through high school. And their hardly baked, giant chocolate chip cookies were basically just molten dough that was literally scalding and so gooey that they were essentially raw. You could buy them at the cafeteria in the morning before school started, which was pretty much how I began every day.

These days dessert isn't offered as part of a "healthy" school lunch, and most schools are "nut-free" anyway. But these classic peanut butter bars will forever immortalize the stalwart lunch ladies in my memory.

Why this Recipe Works

• No need to scoop and frost individual cookies. Like sugar cookie bars, you just bake up one big pan and then slice them into squares. Done.
• The dough is slightly softer and more spreadable than regular cookie dough so it can be pushed into the corners of a large baking sheet.
• There is a thin layer of straight peanut butter between the cookie base and the creamy chocolate frosting on top. Don't skip it. It adds a density and intensity to these bars that is out-of-this-world.

Ingredient Notes

• Peanut Butter: I used creamy peanut butter, but crunchy will work just as well.
• Oatmeal: I like using old-fashioned oats best because they give a chewier texture, but quick oats will work as well.
• Cocoa powder: I just used Hershey's unsweetened natural cocoa powder for the frosting in this recipe because it's always readily available.
• Sugar: A combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar gives depth and just the right amount of sweetness to the base of these yummy bars.

How to Make This Recipe

Start out by creaming the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter together in a large bowl until smooth. Then add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat again, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl so everything mixes together evenly.

Add the dry ingredients to the creamy mixture, then mix again just until combined. Stop and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl again to make sure that the oats especially are nice and evenly dispersed throughout the oatmeal peanut butter cookie dough.

Spread or press the cookie dough into a half baking sheet that has been sprayed with baking spray. These are the normal sized 13"x18" rimmed baking sheets that we use all the time for making cookies.

The dough is thick, but you should be able to press it into the corners of the pan using a spatula. It doesn't need to be perfect since the soft dough will spread and puff a bit as it bakes anyway. Bake for about 15 minutes until the edges are barely turning golden brown and the bars are set, but don't overbake.

While the bars are still hot, heat some additional peanut butter in the microwave for 45-60 seconds until it's melted, then drizzle it over the top and spread it in a thin, even layer.

You could just plop on some spoonfuls of the peanut butter without bothering to melt it in the microwave and the residual heat of the bars will do most of the work for you, but sometimes it doesn't quite melt all the way and when I go to spread it the warm, soft cookie part underneath lifts up, so I think it's worth it to melt the peanut butter first.

Let the bars cool COMPLETELY at this point. It's painful to wait, I know, but if you top them with the chocolate frosting while the bars are still warm, the frosting will melt. Once the bars are cool, the peanut butter will solidify back into a firm layer and you can easily spread the chocolate frosting on top of the bars.

Slice them into large squares (this recipe makes 2 dozen large squares) or smaller rectangles, then serve.

Recipe FAQ's

Recipe Tips

• Storage: Keep your bars covered in an airtight container on the counter for 5-7 days. Some rimmed baking sheets come with a plastic lid that is perfect for just this sort of occasion. Or you can just cover them with plastic wrap once the frosting has dried and firmed up a bit. You can also keep the bars in the fridge and serve them chilled, if you prefer.
• Freezing: These freeze great for 2-3 months. For easier storage, I recommend slicing and separating the bars, then freezing them individually for an hour to set the frosting. Then you can transfer them to a freezer-safe container and stack them so they don't take up as much space in the freezer.
• Variation: If you STILL can't get enough peanut butter chocolate action, try chopping up some Reese's peanut butter cups to sprinkle on top. Or sprinkle with some Reese's Pieces or chopped dry roasted peanuts instead.

More Dessert Bar Recipes

• Carmelitas (Oatmeal, Chocolate, Caramel Bars)
• Oatmeal Fudge Bars
• Pecan Pie Cheesecake Bars
• Classic 7 Layer Bars

Brownies and bars

Classic Nanaimo Bars

Brownies and bars

S'mores Bars

Brownies and bars

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Bars