These peanut butter chocolate chip date bars are the perfect thing for your sweet tooth, and they have just five simple ingredients!
You might have noticed that there are a lot of peanut butter recipes on the blog. There’s this extreme peanut butter granola, these peanut butter & honey crispy treats, these peanut butter cookie Laraballs, these peanut butter energy bites, just to name a few. Maybe that means I should slow down on the peanut butter recipes? But these healthy peanut butter chocolate chip date bars taste like blondies…so how can I not share them?!
They’re no-bake bars that taste great out of the fridge or even the freezer, but I discovered the best way to enjoy them: pull one out of the fridge, microwave it for just 10 seconds, and enjoy a slightly melty, gooey bar that tastes like a warm blondie right out of the oven. Agh. So good.
All you need: sweet dates…
crunchy peanuts (plus a big spoonful of natural peanut butter)…
and semisweet or dark chocolate chips. Oh, and a small tablespoon of water just to help everything bind together.
Add all of the ingredients besides the chocolate chips to the food processor and pulse until the mixture comes together. Add the chocolate chips and pulse a couple more times just to combine. 
Line an 8×8 or 9×9 pan with wax paper or parchment paper and press the mixture into pan. Refrigerate for two to three hours, and then you can slice into small squares. 
I always crave something sweet after lunch and dinner, so I usually have fresh fruit, dried figs, tea, a square of dark chocolate, etc. Lately, though, (at least until they disappeared) it’s been these bars. I shared some, and then ate maybe two (or five, who’s counting?) each day until they were all gone. And then I made a new batch. They’re the perfect way to satisfy my peanut butter cup cravings!
If you try these peanut butter chocolate chip date bars, feel free to let me know in a comment or take a picture and tag me @livbane on Instagram. Hope you enjoy!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Date Bars
Ingredients
- 10 large Medjool dates
- 2 cups salted peanuts (if using unsalted, add 1/4 teaspoon salt)
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1/2 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Place dates in food processor and pulse until dates become a paste. Add peanuts and peanut butter, and continue to process the mixture. Add up to 1 tablespoon of water as needed (depending on the stickiness of your dates and the consistency of your peanut butter) to help mixture come together. Add chocolate chips and pulse several more times to combine into dough.
- Line an 8x8 or 9x9 inch baking pan with wax or parchment paper. Press mixture into pan and refrigerate for 2-3 hours. Slice into approximately 36 bars. Store in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze for several months.
A Healthy Liv original recipe
Nutrition info for one bar: 90 calories, 8g carbs, 6g fat, 3g protein, 6g sugar
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Questions for you:
What’s your favorite way to enjoy peanut butter? Any peanut butter recipes you love that you’d like to share? (Links encouraged!)
These look good! I love a good dessert recipe that involves peanut butter.
You and me both! 🙂
I LOVE the close ups of all the ingredients. 🙂 And you can just not go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate, and the texture of them after microwaving sounds delightful Liv!
Thanks, Emily! They basically turn into warm, melty peanut butter chocolate chip BLONDIES!
Dates are one of my favorites sources of natural sweetness! These look fabulous and perfect for an energizing snack!
Yes! I find dates to be a little to sweet on their own, but I LOVE using them to naturally sweeten treats like this!
Peanut butter is my favorite ingredient, so I love your choice of recipes! Love how these are no bake.
I can’t believe I went years of my life disliking peanut butter…I can’t get enough these days!
Yum! Hard to eat just one, isn’t it?
You know it! Keeping them in the freezer out of sight helps a little bit 🙂
Dates are so versatile! Love this sweet (and nourishing) treat you came up with, Liv <3
Thanks, Edye!
I loveee cooking with dates. These sound so good!
My mom sent me an article yesterday about all of the health benefits of dates and my first thought was that it was a sign I needed to make these again ASAP!
Can you use a food chopper or blender if you dont have a processor?
Hi Marianne! You need the dates and nuts to be ground pretty well, so if you have a really powerful blender (like a Vitamix), that’d work!