Triple Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Bars

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Triple Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Bars – Soft, gooey bars loaded with M&Ms, chocolate and made for serious peanut butter lovers! So good!

Triple Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Bars - Soft, gooey bars loaded with M&Ms, chocolate and made for serious peanut butter lovers! So good!

I make my fair share of treats, and have the hodgepodge of random add-ins in my pantry to show for it.

Half-used bags of chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and a random assortment of candy were taking over the cupboard so I found a home for them.

In these bars.

They’re the perfect bar to toss in everything but the kitchen sink.

Triple Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Bars - Soft, gooey bars loaded with M&Ms, chocolate and made for serious peanut butter lovers! So good!

Use this flexible and forgiving dough base as your opportunity to stir almost anything that’s plaguing your pantry into it.

What else are you going to do with 1/3 cup chocolate-covered sunflower seeds from your last Trader Joe’s impulse buy or that small handful of butterscotch chips from your last batch of cookies, or a few stray marshmallows.

Triple Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Bars - Soft, gooey bars loaded with M&Ms, chocolate and made for serious peanut butter lovers! So good!

Use up last year’s Halloween candy or Easter candy. Those Fun-Size Twix bars are begging to be diced and tossed in. Don’t pretend you don’t discover random candy from months ago. Well, I do. Life of a food blogger.

The bars come together in 5 minutes in one bowl, no mixer needed. Unlike making cookies, there’s no dough to chill, and they’re ready in under 30 minutes from start to finish.

I used my go-to blondie base, with a half-cup peanut butter stirred in, before stirring in the kitchen sink.

Triple Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Bars - Soft, gooey bars loaded with M&Ms, chocolate and made for serious peanut butter lovers! So good!

I had partially used bags of Peanut Butter M&M’s, peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, toffee bits, and included them all.

Because peanut butter is used three times – peanut butter that’s stirred into the dough, Peanut Butter M&Ms, and peanut butter chips – they pack a bold, peanut buttery punch.

Triple Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Bars - Soft, gooey bars loaded with M&Ms, chocolate and made for serious peanut butter lovers! So good!

They’re very moist and soft. The edges turn slightly chewy, while the interior remains a squishy, soft heaven.

The crunchy candy coating of the M&Ms and their firmness, coupled with Heath toffee bits, are the perfect texture contrast to the buttery, peanut buttery, dense, melt-in-your mouth dough.

Triple Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Bars - Soft, gooey bars loaded with M&Ms, chocolate and made for serious peanut butter lovers! So good!

There’s plenty of chocolate, too. Chocolate and peanut butter just go together. The abundance of melted chocolate chips is practically mandatory with all that peanut butter.

Triple Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Bars - Soft, gooey bars loaded with M&Ms, chocolate and made for serious peanut butter lovers! So good!

Soft, chewy, fast, easy, peanut butter used three times, and you can clean out your cupboards. That’s success.

Triple Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Bars - Soft, gooey bars loaded with M&Ms, chocolate and made for serious peanut butter lovers! So good!

And let’s face it, any time you can bake candy into a dessert, you won’t hear too many complaints.

Triple Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Bars - Soft, gooey bars loaded with M&Ms, chocolate and made for serious peanut butter lovers! So good!

Cleaning out your pantry never tasted so good.

Triple Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Bars - Soft, gooey bars loaded with M&Ms, chocolate and made for serious peanut butter lovers! So good!

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4.56 from 25 votes

Triple Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Bars

By Averie Sunshine
Peanut butter is used three times in these dense, rich, moist, fast, and easy bars. There’s peanut butter stirred into the dough, Peanut Butter M&Ms, and peanut butter chips, so the bars pack a bold, peanut buttery punch. There’s plenty of chocolate, the perfect compliment to all that peanut butter. Use the dough base as a blank canvas and start cleaning out your pantry – butterscotch or white chocolate chips, nuts and seeds, dice old holiday candy and toss it in. Mix and match with the add-ins you have on hand rather than buying new. Cleaning out your pantry never tasted so good.
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 12 generous squares
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Ingredients  

  • ½ cup unsalted butter, 1 stick, melted
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • heaping 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, use Jif, Skippy, etc.; don’t use homemade or natural – too runny
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup Peanut Butter M&Ms
  • ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks, or a combination
  • ½ cup Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips
  • cup Heath Bar Toffee Bits

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
  • In a large, microwave-safe bowl melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power.
  • Wait momentarily before adding the egg so you don’t scramble it. Add the egg, brown sugar, vanilla, and whisk until smooth.
  • Add the peanut butter and whisk or stir until smooth and incorporated.
  • Add the flour and stir until just combined, don’t overmix.
  • Add all remaining add-ins and fold to incorporate.
  • Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula. I like to strategically place a few M&Ms on the top of the batter for a nice visual effect.
  • Bake for about 25 minutes, or until top is set. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. Allow bars to cool in pan for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving. Bars will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Nutrition

Serving: 1, Calories: 522kcal, Carbohydrates: 39g, Protein: 7g, Fat: 39g, Saturated Fat: 20g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 16g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 83mg, Sodium: 245mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 26g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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What’s the last pantry cleanout recipe you’ve made? What do you put in your Monster Bars?

4.56 from 25 votes (19 ratings without comment)

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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    I just made these bars wow! Yummy and super sweet! I used M& M’s and mini chocolate chips, I think I might have put too many M& M’s on the top, very rich and peanut buttery! Great recipe I will definitely make these again!

  2. 5 stars
    I just made these bars wow! Yummy and super sweet! I used M& M’s and mini chocolate chips, I think I might have put too many M& M’s on the top, very rich and peanut buttery! Great recipe I will definitely make these again!

  3. 4 stars
    It’s definitely a good way to get rid of left over candy, and personally I would cut the candy in half so it tasted more like a cookie bar. But all in all very tasty!

  4. 4 stars
    It’s definitely a good way to get rid of left over candy, and personally I would cut the candy in half so it tasted more like a cookie bar. But all in all very tasty!

  5. Sounds delicious! I often keep leftover candy in the freezer and will just chop up whatever I have left to add to cookie or brownie recipes. Pinned.

  6. Hi,

    Do you think these could be made with double the peanut butter chips and no M&M’s?  I love them, but a jaw problem make it impossible to indulge.

    Thank you.
    Hope

  7. I made these this weekend! They turned out great (although I think I overbaked them a little).
    Can’t wait to try more recipes from this site!

  8. Hi there! Thanks for the delicious looking recipe! I’m going to try baking it this weekend, however, I notice there is no baking soda OR baking powder called for. I’ve never baked a bar cookie without using one or the other. I’ve always been under the impression that using non baking powder/soda will cause them to turn out flat and tough, no?

    1. I do not like cakey bars cookies at all and when I put leaveners in them, even 1/2 teaspoon, they turn out cakier than I like. If I wanted cake, I’d make cake :)

      The bars, if you make them according to the recipe, should look like the photos. They’re definitely not tough and I wouldn’t say flat either but it’s personal preference.

  9. Thank you for making my coworkers think I’m the best baker ever! This is such a wonderful recipe (and base blondies recipe) that I get requests all the time. 

    1. Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! And glad you love this blondie base too and that your coworkers think you’re a superstar!

  10. These bars are now requested every time my friends get together.  They are delicious.  I love your blog. :)

    1. Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you and that they’re on request from your friends!