Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
TASTE: Like a Butterfinger bar! Plenty of peanut butter flavors with decadent chocolate chunks, rich toffee, and a little salt on top to balance the flavors out perfectly.
TEXTURE: Chewy, thick cookie bars, with a slight crunch throughout thanks to the chocolate and toffee.
EASE: Super simple! You don’t even need a mixer for these cookie bars.
PROS: Easy to make and transport.
CONS: Chilling the cookie dough for 24 hours before baking is recommended – but I promise, the depth of flavor and incredible texture are well worth the wait!
WOULD I MAKE THIS AGAIN? Oh 100%
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Peanut Butter Toffee Chocolate Chunk Bars are the most flavorful cookie bar you’ll ever bake!
Bar desserts are such a joy to make and perfect for sharing. I often find myself baking a batch of my Best Ever Chewy Brownies, kid-approved Chocolate Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars, or my Classic Cheesecake Bars to take to any party.
These cookie bars were born from a spontaneous craving. I wanted a thick, chewy peanut butter cookie bar packed with deep, complex flavors.
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After a few rounds of tweaking, I nailed the perfect recipe that uses dark brown sugar for added richness, toffee bits for a delightful crunch and flavor, and a sprinkle of sea salt on top to balance the sweetness.
The result? A Butterfinger in cookie bar form!
Trust me, your whole family is going to fall in love with these Peanut Butter Toffee Chocolate Chunk Bars.
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Peanut Butter Toffee Chocolate Chunk Bars
Tips for the Best Cookie Bars:
- Measure correctly. Too much flour will yield dry, tough cookie bars that are not chewy. I recommend using a digital kitchen scale to avoid this. If you don’t have a scale, use the spoon-and-level method to measure your flour.
- Do NOT lower the sugar in this recipe. Sugar does so much beyond sweetening your baked goods. Learn more about sugar’s role in baking here.
- Use a light-colored metal pan. More on this below.
- Allow cookie bars to cool before serving. After experimenting with the best time to slice these bars, we recommend waiting at least 3 hours for the chewy texture and flavors to develop fully.
What Type of Peanut Butter?
- Natural peanut butter will give these cookie bars the most bold PB flavor, but conventional peanut butter (like Skippy) will work in a pinch, though your bars will be sweeter.
- If using natural peanut butter, make sure it’s extremely well-stirred before using, with no oily or dry pockets.
- In testing, we found that Peter Pan brand peanut butter didn’t give the bars much PB flavor and, in fact, altered these bars to have a softer, slightly cakey texture. I recommend avoiding using this brand if possible. If that’s all you have, be sure to chill the dough for 24-72 hours before baking to allow the flavors to develop – otherwise, you won’t taste much peanut butter.
- I have not tried using crunchy peanut butter in these bars.
What Type of Chocolate Chunks?
I used semisweet chocolate baking bars chopped into chunks. Chocolate chips will work if needed, but chopping your own baking bars allows for more marbling of chocolate throughout the bars and a better texture overall.
Feel free to use milk, dark, or bittersweet chocolate – just note that this will alter the overall sweetness of the cookie bars, and darker chocolates may overpower the other flavors.
The Toffee Bits
I love using my Homemade Toffee Bits recipe in these cookie bars, but you can also use Heath brand English toffee bits, available in many supermarkets by the chocolate chips in the baking aisle.
A double batch of these cookie bars uses up one batch of homemade toffee perfectly – or you can use the rest in my Toffee Brownies or Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies! Or to snack on or top ice cream with.
Can I Use Light Brown Sugar Instead?
Dark brown sugar helps bring a fantastic depth of flavor here. The molasses in the dark brown sugar draws in more moisture, making the cookie bars thicker, softer, and chewier, with rich butterscotch flavors.
You can use light brown sugar instead (1:1 ratio), but you will lose some of the additional flavor and texture, and your cookie bars will be lighter in color.
Can I Make Peanut Butter Toffee Chocolate Chunk Cookies Instead of Bars?
We haven’t tried making these bars into drop cookies. I recommend instead trying my viral Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe or my Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, swapping some of the chocolate chips for finely chopped toffee bits.
What’s the Best Pan for Cookie Bars?
I highly recommend using an 8×8-inch light-colored metal baking pan. Darker metals can dry out the edges before the middle has a chance to bake through.
I do not recommend baking cookie bars in a glass or ceramic, as they will take much longer to bake and can result in dry edges with underdone, even collapsed, middles. Learn more about Glass vs. Metal Baking Pans here.
Do I Really Have to Chill These Cookie Bars?
Time is a significant factor in these bars, taking them from good to WOW. Here are your options:
- My recommendation: Cover and chill the cookie dough in the pan for 24-72 hours before baking. These bars will have deep, complex butterscotch flavors, a wonderfully chewy texture, and a pronounced PB flavor.
- Second best option: Bake right away but allow the bars to sit overnight before serving. The flavor and texture will improve significantly as the flavors meld together and the bars sit, even post-bake.
- Not recommended: If you skip the chill period and serve as soon as the bars have cooled, your cookie bars will be softer, slightly cakey, and less flavorful with a subtle PB flavor.
- Note: Freezing dough does not work the same as chilling. Learn more about chilling cookie doughs here.
Can I Double This Recipe?
Yes! Simply double all ingredients and bake in a light-colored metal 9 by 13-inch baking pan, adding a few minutes to the bake time.
How to Store & Freeze
Peanut Butter Toffee Chocolate Chunk Bars can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
To freeze, wrap each slice of cookie bar in plastic wrap and store inside an airtight container for up to one month. Defrost at room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving.
More Recipes You’ll Love:
Peanut Butter Toffee Chocolate Chunk Bars
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Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons (57 grams) unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup (135 grams) creamy peanut butter*
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon milk, any kind
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup (127 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup (128 grams)
toffee bits , divided - 4 ounces (113 grams) semisweet chocolate, chopped into chunks, divided
- Flaky sea salt for topping, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a metal 8 by 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, melt the butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add the sugar to the hot mixture, stirring to combine. Let cool to just warm (about 80°F) before whisking in the egg, egg yolk, milk, and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt with a rubber spatula. Stir in three-quarters each of the toffee bits and chocolate chunks.
- Press dough evenly into prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with the remaining toffee bits and chocolate chunks.
- Optional/Make-Ahead: For best flavor and texture, cover pan in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight or up to 3 days.
- Bake for about 26 minutes, or until the top and edges are golden brown. Remove from oven onto a wire rack. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Let pan set for three hours (yes, three hours!) for best flavor and texture before cutting into squares and serving.
- The bars can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Recipe Notes
Photos by Joanie Simon.
Delicious combo of peanut butter, toffee bits and chocolate chunks!
These were delicious! I didn’t have any toffee and added nuts instead. They added a nice crunch to the bars.
Hi!
If I refrigerate the batter, should I bring it back to room temperature before baking? If so how long should I leave it out?
Thanks!
Hi Tina! No, you can bake directly from the fridge. You may just need to add an additional minute or two to the bake time. Let us know what you think when you give our recipe a try 🙂
This was a hit! I chilled the batter for 24 hours.
This recipe is so tasty- perfect blend of flavors and textures. Came together very easy. Made in 9×13 pan and baked extra 4 minutes. Will add this to holiday baking list. Thank you for this great recipe.
I made these for a Friendsgiving this weekend! Followed the recipe to a T and they turned out good, but they weren’t my fav. They were slightly cakey instead of a gooey blondie I was expecting. I am not sure I loved the peanut butter. Essentially I compare everything to the malted toffee bars which are actual heaven on earth!
Can this recipe be shaped and baked as normal cookies instead of cookie bars?
We haven’t tried that! Instead, we recommend trying our Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies or Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, swapping some of the chocolate chips for finely chopped toffee bits.
As soon as I read this recipe I knew I had to make these bars. I followed directions to a Tee and used smuckers natural peanut butter, an 60% dark chocolate bar chopped and the Heath Toffee bits. The dough is beautiful, and I did an overnight chill. Baked them off first thing in the morning and the kitchen smelled amazing! They probably cooled at least 4 hours. The bars are chocolaty, butterscotch-ish and definitely have great PB flavor. Nice recipe, you have to be willing to wait, but it’s so worth it.
The waiting period is SO tough, but I’m happy you agree it’s worth it! Thrilled you loved this recipe, your bars look amazing, Lu!
I just mixed these up and they are resting in the fridge now. I ended up using Reese’s pieces, peanuts, and dark chocolate chips as my mix-ins. I feel like it will be a great base for all sorts of things! Now to stay disciplined and not bake them for three days…
Ooo your mix-ins sound delish! The wait period is definitely the toughest part. I may or may not have snacked a few times on the dough haha! Share a pic after you’ve baked them so we can see! Excited to hear what you think 🙂
Can you double the recipe in a 9×13?
There was a note further up the page saying that works. I was going to do that but realized I only had enough peanut butter for a single batch!
Yep! Just add a few minutes to the bake time 🙂