Nutter Butter Cookie Bars

In this Oreo-obsessed world, Nutter Butters are often overlooked, but now these Nutter Butter bars are bringing them front and center. Loaded with chunky peanut butter, peanut butter chips, and crushed Nutter Butter cookies, these simple cookie bars will bring out the child in all of us.

The peanut butter:
For the best texture and flavor, I recommend using an all-natural (unsweetened) chunky peanut butter for these bars. Sweetened overly processed peanut butter will add too much sugar to the bar, which will prevent it from baking properly and throw off that sweet and salty balance.

All-natural peanut butter generally requires stirring since the fat separates from the peanut solids, so make sure to stir well before measuring it out. You want to make sure that peanut butter is totally homogenous, otherwise you might end up with greasy or overly dense bars.

Baking and cooling the bars:
These bars are basically blondies, so a metal pan is essential to ensuring that they bake properly. Lining the pan with baking parchment prevents sticking and allows you to lift the entire nutter butter bar slab out of the pan for easier cutting. For best results, I recommend waiting to slice the bars until they’re totally cool. But if you can’t wait, it’s not the end of the world!

Storage:
Once baked, these nutter butter cookie bars can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. If you want to extend their shelf life, you can refrigerate them up to 7 days, or freeze in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 1 month.