Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

These healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars make for a delicious snack packed with oats, chocolate and peanut butter that’s perfect for meal prep – these no bake oat bars are happy stashed in the fridge or the freezer until you fancy a sweet treat!

Okay I’m obsessed with these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars!! They remind me of chewy granola bars but with literally only a handful of ingredients. You may even have everything you need right now to throw these cookie bars together. These are perfect to have in the fridge or freezer for a quick snack or a sweet treat at night. Just warning you now…they are dangerous 😉 You’ll want to keep going back for more!

What you need to make these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars:

Rolled Oats, peanut butter (see my notes on choosing the best nut butter for this recipe below!), pitted Medjool dates, maple syrup, ground cinnamon, sea salt (flaky sea salt would taste best here!), & semi-sweet chocolate (both mini chips and larger pieces for melting to drizzle on top!)

Choosing the right nut butter for Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars:

For these bars, I do use creamy peanut butter, but I don’t see why creamy almond butter wouldn’t work here either! But make sure it’s creamy!! The best peanut butter to use in this case is one that you can easily stir at the top and all the way through the nut butter. I love the creamy unsalted from Trader Joe’s for something like this. I also love the creamy one from Sprouts!

I don’t think I need to tell you how to enjoy a jar of peanut butter (!) but this type would also be delicious in my Peanut Butter Banana Overnight Oats.

Can I substitute anything for the pitted medjool dates?

Using medjool dates is super important in this recipe! It binds everything together to form it into the bars. I grab the medjool dates at Costco and remove the pits myself which is super easy to do! Make sure you either pick up pitted medjool dates or regular ones and remove the pits on your own 🙂

What is the best way to store these bars?

You can store these in the fridge or the freezer! If you store in the freezer, I recommend letting them sit out for a couple minutes before enjoying them. Placing in the freezer allows you to keep them longer though (if they last that long! :)) I like to store mine in Stasher Bags or these containers.

Do I have to add the chocolate chips or spread melted chocolate on top?

Of course not, but I like adding it to make these oatmeal bars an extra-special treat! If you want to cut down on the amount of chocolate you could just use the chips, or drizzle rather than spread the melted chocolate on top.

What I used to make these cookie bars:

• Food Processor
• Baking Dish

If you like these, you may also enjoy these recipes on One Balanced Life:

• No Bake Healthy Peanut Butter & Honey Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
• Healthy Key Lime Greek Yogurt Bars
• No Bake Sun Butter Bars
• No Bake Pumpkin Oat Bars
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Crisp Bars
• Hot Chicken Salad Casserole with Rice

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Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Yield: Makes 10

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

These healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars make for a delicious snack packed with oats, chocolate and peanut butter that's perfect for meal prep - these no bake oat bars are happy stashed in the fridge or the freezer until you fancy a sweet treat!

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Ingredients

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 12 medjool dates (make sure they are pitted or remove the pits yourself!)
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• dash of sea salt
• 1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate (mixed with 1 tbsp coconut oil)

Instructions

1. Begin by lining a 8 x 8 tin with parchment paper (I like to put coconut oil on the bottom of the pan before lining with parchment paper).
2. In your food processor add dates and rolled oats, and blend. Blend until completely processed.
3. Add maple syrup, creamy peanut butter, cinnamon & sea salt. Continue to blend. Mixture should be sticky and well formed here. If not, add a little more maple syrup or try adding another date.
4. Once all mixed together, add in mini chocolate chips. Lightly blend only to get chocolate chips all mixed in with oatmeal mixture.
5. Place mixture in 8x8 dish and press down firmly. Place in fridge until totally set.
6. Melt chocolate for on top.
7. Pour melted chocolate on top of oatmeal cookie mixture. Place in the fridge again until the chocolate hardens.
8. Cut into pieces!

Notes

Instead of cutting these into bars, you can also cut them into little bite size pieces!

Instead of mini chocolate chips, you can use regular chocolate chips.

If the mixture is still crumbly after adding PB and maple syrup, add another tbsp of maple.

until next time...