Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Bars are made with peanut butter cookie dough. The center is filled with peanut butter, cream cheese, chocolate chips, and peanuts.
These peanut butter and chocolate chip bars are a scrumptious way to fulfill your peanut butter and chocolate cravings.
These bars feature a cookie crust topped with a peanut butter cream cheese filling, chocolate chips, peanuts, and a cookie topping. They are simple to make and are totally irresistible.
Helpful tips
- Have your ingredients at room temperature for better blending.
- Use full-fat cream cheese for a creamier filling.
- I like to use creamy peanut butter for the recipe since peanuts are added to the filling.
- The bars are done when the top is lightly brown, the cream cheese filling is set, and the edges are lightly brown.
- The bars should be refrigerated since the filling has cream cheese in it.
- Also, the bars can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Peanut butter cheesecake bars ingredients
Crust and Top
- Butter – Salted butter or unsalted works
- Peanut Butter – I like to use creamy peanut butter since there are peanuts in the filling.
- Brown Sugar
- Granulated Sugar
- Egg – Large eggs work best
- Vanilla
- Flour – All-purpose flour works great.
- Baking Soda
- Salt – I use table salt for this recipe
Filling
- Cream Cheese – Full-fat cream cheese works best. If using anything other than the full-fat, it may change the texture of the filling.
- Peanut Butter
- Sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla
- Chocolate Chips – You can use milk chocolate, semi-sweet, or dark chocolate chips.
- Peanuts – I like to use roasted peanuts for this recipe.
Steps for making these peanut butter bars
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 13-inch baking pan.
Steps one, two, and three
Add the butter and peanut butter to a large mixing bowl and cream them together with an electric mixer. Add the brown sugar and sugar and mix in. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
Steps four, five, and six
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture and mix together. (Remove 1 1/2 cups of the dough for the top of the bars.) Pat the remaining dough into the prepared pan.
Steps seven and eight
Add the cream cheese to a medium bowl and beat with clean beaters until fluffy. Mix in the peanut butter.
Steps nine and ten
Mix the sugar into the filling. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until blended.
Steps eleven and twelve
Spread the filling over the dough that was added to the baking pan. Top with the chocolate chips.
Steps thirteen, fourteen, and fourteen
Sprinkle the peanuts on top of the chips. Crumble the remaining dough over the top of the filling. Bake until the bars are lightly browned.
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If you make these peanut butter cream cheese bars, I would love to hear about it! Please leave me a comment and a rating.
Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Bars
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 12 ounces chocolate chips
- 1 cup chopped peanuts
Cream cheese filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan
Crust and topping
- Cream together the peanut butter and the butter in a large bowl. Add the brown sugar and 1/2 cup sugar and mix in. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix in.
- Reserve 1 1/2 cups of dough. Pat the rest of the dough in a greased 9 x 13-inch pan.
Filling
- In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer for about 20 seconds. Add in the peanut butter and beat in. Cream in the sugar. Mix in the egg just until combined. Add the vanilla and mix in.
- Spread the cream cheese filling over the bottom layer. Sprinkle the chocolate chips and chopped peanuts over top of the cream cheese filling. Crumble the reserved dough over top of the chocolate chips and peanuts.
- Place the bars in the preheated oven and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes or until the bars are lightly browned.
Notes
- The ingredients should be at room temperature for easy blending.
- Full-fat cream cheese is used in this recipe. If using a different type of cream cheese, it may change the texture of the filling.
- Beat the cream cheese and the peanut butter until they are well combined.
- Don’t overmix the egg in the filling. Mix the egg into the cream cheese filling just until it is incorporated.
- The bars are done when the top of the bars are lightly brown, the cream cheese is set, and the edges are lightly brown.
- Let the bars cool completely before cutting them.
- The bars should be stored in the refrigerator since they have a cream cheese filling.
- The bars can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published on October 4, 2018. It was updated with new content and pictures on April 3, 2025.
I can’t resist anything with peanut butter 🙂 These cookie bars look fabulous.
I do not like plain peanut butter one bit—and I ate some peanuts on a flight last month and felt the same way about them. BUT I love pb desserts and these bars look scrumptious!!
They look positively delectable Dawn! Big peanut butter lover here especially in baked goods. I love that you also made a crumbly topping. Everything I love wrapped up in one.
That’s interesting that Mike loves peanuts, but doesn’t eat peanut butter. I mean it’s just ground up peanuts! But then again, that just means more for you when you make delicious treats like these bars. These sound like they wouldn’t last long at all around my house!