Monster Cookie Bars
An easy, recipe for a fun, yummy and crowd-pleasing dessert! These bar cookies are soft and chewy, just the right amount of peanut butter (substitute your favorite nut or seed butter) and gluten-free oats, and lots of chocolate chips and M&Ms!
Servings: 24 bars
Equipment
- 1 9x13 inch pan
Ingredients
- ¾ cup butter or dairy-free butter, softened (1 ½ sticks )
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- ⅓ cup cane sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup peanut butter or nut/ seed butter of choice I used Natural Creamy Peanut Butter (not the bottom of the jar if possible)
- 1 ½ cup gluten-free all purpose flour with xanthum gum* (We used GF Jules flour, Affiliate Link)
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups gluten-free oats
- ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chips of choice
- ¾ cup M&Ms or chocolate candy of choice plus 1/2 cup more for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment paper, or grease pan very well. Set aside.
- Using a stand up mixer or hand mixer, mix butter, sugars and vanilla until well combined and creamy.
- Add eggs and beat thoroughly.
- Beat in peanut butter.
- In a separate small bowl, add flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix with a fork or pastry cutter. Then add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and mix until combined.
- Add in oats and mix till combined.
- Add in chocolate chips and m&ms and gently mix till combined.
- Spoon batter into the prepared baking pan and spread evenly. Top with additional m&ms, pressing gently into the batter.
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden and a tooth pick comes out clean. You do not want to over-bake.
- Let cool in the pan for 45 minutes or longer. Lift the entire parchment paper out and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 24 squares
- Store in an airtight container. Store well at room temp for 5 days. Freeze well.
Tried this recipe?Mention @HealthyGFFamily or tag #HealthyGFFamily!
These cookies are to die for! I have already baked them twice in three days! My mom said that they are the best cookies she has ever had… and she eats a lot of cookies!!!
Love it! So happy you love these cookies so much… especially your mother! Means a lot! Thank you!
Can you make these with regular all-purpose flour? Thank you u
Yes, if you are not following a gluten-free diet, these should work fine with regular all purpose flour! They are based on my family’s peanut butter cookie which was not originally gluten-free. Let me know if you make them!
Oh My Gosh!! Those cookies! This recipe!
simple easy to do soooo yummy …
we made a bunch of those last week-end. it was a great mother-daughter time.
she’s 8 and she’s just crazy about those monster cookies.
we made few adaptation: grated coco instead of oats and french smarties candy instead of m&m’s.
Peanut Butter was soooo mandatory 🙂
thank you so much for sharing all those recipes.
Thank you!! Such a fun cookie to make with kids!
I made these cookies for the first time today and they tasted amazing! My husband who usually isn’t a fan of gluten free cookies said he that he couldn’t even tell a difference! Win for me, means I don’t have to eat the whole batch myself? 10/10 recommend!
haha love it! Makes me so happy that your husband loved them too!
Amazing!!! We love these cookies. My kids say they smell like peanut butter but don’t have an overwhelming taste of peanut butter. I had a bag of M&M baking chips to use and this was perfect. The softness of these is incredible. I have to stop eating them all!
Thanks Megin! So happy you love them too! And love your kids observation — spot on!
LOVED this recipe! The didn’t stick around long in our house at all! I mean, peanut butter meets oatmeal m&m cookie? Genius! So glad my gfJules Flour was part of making this magic happen!
Thanks Jules! So happy you all loved these cookies too! Such a yummy combo, right? And we are grateful for your flour!