These Valentine Peanut Butter Cookie Bars are made with lots of sprinkles, M&M’s, and Reese’s hearts. They are delicious dessert to bring to Valentine’s day parties or to share with your favorite peanut butter loving friend!
VALENTINE PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE BARS
Published: Jan 30, 2023 by Jocelyn · As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This post may contain affiliate links · 4 Comments
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These Valentine Peanut Butter Cookie Bars are made with lots of sprinkles, M&M’s, and Reese’s hearts. They are delicious dessert to bring to Valentine’s day parties or to share with your favorite peanut butter loving friend!
- Why You Will Love These Bars
- Key Ingredients
- How to Make Peanut Butter Cookie Bars
- Storage Recommendations
- Tips and Tricks
- Recipe FAQs
- More Peanut Butter Desserts
- Recipe
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I love Valentine treats! Kiss cookies and raspberry thumbprint cookies are at the top of my list. But peanut butter and chocolate is my kryptonite. No matter how hard I try to resist this combo, I just can’t do it.
I bought two bags of Reese’s peanut butter hearts to use in my baking this month, so I decided to give these peanut butter cookies bars a fun red, white, and pink twist.
The peanut butter hearts, sprinkles, and M&M’s made the peanut butter bars so pretty! And they tasted so good too.
WHY YOU WILL LOVE THESE BARS
Peanut butter cookie bars with peanut butter cups is a great way to enjoy peanut butter cup cookies without all the extra work. All you do is press all the dough into a sheet pan and let it bake. Easy, peasy!
Add your choice of candies to the top of the dough for a pretty and fun look. The cookie dough bakes around the Reese’s candies, so the hearts keep their shape.
Colorful sprinkles in the dough and on the melted hearts gives the peanut butter bars a fun flair. It is easy to change up the colors and shapes if you are making them for another holiday.
You will love the texture in these cookie bars. They are soft and chewy and have the best peanut butter flavor. What are you waiting for? Let’s get baking!
KEY INGREDIENTS
A few simple pantry ingredients that you probably have in your kitchen plus a few bags of Valentine’s candy are all you need to make these fun and festive peanut butter bar cookies.
- Butter – We like to use unsalted butter in our recipes, so we can control the amount of salt. You can use either, just skip the salt in the recipe if you are using salted butter.
- Peanut Butter – Creamy peanut butter adds the flavor and chewiness to these bars.
- Sugars – Using a mixture of granulated and brown sugar makes these bars extra sweet and chewy.
- All Purpose Flour – Provides the structure for the cookie dough. Make sure you are measuring the flour correctly, so you do not add too much.
- Baking Soda – Added so the bars bake nice and brown.
- Toppings – A mixture of Reese’s peanut butter hearts, Valentine’s M&M’s, and colorful sprinkles make these cookie bars so pretty and delicious.
HOW TO MAKE PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE BARS
Sprinkles and candies make these easy peanut butter bars a fun treat to share with your loved ones. The recipe is easy to make in a matter of minutes.
- Mix the butter, sugars, and peanut butter until creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix again.
- Slowly beat the dry ingredients and some of the sprinkles into the peanut butter mixture until a soft and sticky dough forms.
- Use an angled spatula to spread the dough into a greased sheet pan. You could also line the pan with parchment paper for easy removal.
- Press the Valentine’s candies into the top of the dough in a fun pattern. Bake until set and golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and add sprinkles immediately to the top of the melted hearts. Let the bar cookies cool completely before cutting into squares.
STORAGE RECOMMENDATIONS
The peanut butter cookie bars will stay soft for 3-4 days if kept in a tightly sealed container on the counter.
TIPS AND TRICKS
- Make sure your butter is softened to room temperature before you start. It’s so much easier to beat the butter and sugars together when it is soft.
- Use an angled spatula to spread the batter into your cookie sheet. It’s very sticky, so do not use your hands.
- Want even more peanut butter flavor? Add peanut butter chips and peanuts to the dough before spreading it in the baking sheet.
- Press the Reese’s hearts into the top of the cookie batter in whatever pattern your heart desires. I did a grid alternating the white chocolate and chocolate hearts.
- Do NOT over bake your cookies. No one wants cookies that fall apart when they try to pick them up. Under baking them just slightly keeps them soft and chewy.
- Add more sprinkles to the tops of the melted chocolate when the soft and chewy cookie bars come out of the oven.
- Skip the candies and frost the top of the cooled bars with dark chocolate frosting.
