By Grocery List Plus Editorial Staff | Published on October 4, 2026
Serves 16
323 cal · 60 min
Chewy Apple Peanut Butter Bars
Recipe GLPR75df06f4b2d87e
Rate this recipe
Average rating: 4.8 (1)
Thick, chewy bars combining soft diced apples, peanut butter chips, and warm cinnamon spice. These dense, cake-like squares are perfect for lunchboxes, snacking, or sharing.
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Ingredients
2 cup all purpose flour
½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1½ cup chopped fresh apples
1 cup peanut butter chips
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Butter a 9 by 9 inch baking dish and set it aside.
In a large bowl, combine the melted butter, packed brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Whisk together until well blended.
Add the eggs one at a time to the butter-sugar mixture, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract until smooth.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
Gradually stir the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until just combined. Fold in the chopped apples and peanut butter chips until evenly distributed. The batter will be thick.
Spread the thick batter into the prepared baking dish, pressing gently to even out the surface.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs and the edges are golden brown.
Remove from the oven and cool completely in the pan on a wire rack, about 30 minutes. Once cooled, cut into 16 squares and serve.
Comments
This recipe plays to North Carolina's strengths: apples and peanuts are both reliable and cheap across all major chains here, and peanut butter chips are standard at Harris Teeter, Food Lion, Kroger, and Walmart. The ingredient list is short and pantry-forward—flour, butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla, baking powder, cinnamon, salt—with no special stops required. At roughly $0.80–$1.00 per serving, cost is genuinely low, driven mainly by the peanut butter chips and apples. The stated 60 minutes is honest: 10 minutes prep, 50 minutes bake and cool, with no fussy technique. The bars reheat well and keep for days, making them a real option for weeknight prep or a make-ahead dessert. The only caveat is that you're buying a whole bag of peanut butter chips for one batch, so efficiency improves if you freeze extras or make the bars twice in quick succession.
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