Easy Peanut Butter Dream Bars

This old fashioned Amish recipe for Peanut Butter Dream Bars is a favorite for family gatherings and Christmas cookie trays. 

Earthy oat crumbles taste paired with a creamy peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk filling is gooey and amazing! The chocolate chips on top only make these dessert bars better.

If you enjoy this recipe you may also like our Nutty Buddy Pie.

Peanut Butter Dream Bars Recipe 

Sweet and gooey with that classic peanut butter taste it’s hard to eat just one cookie bar! Adding chocolate chips to the top layer of oatmeal is genius.

It seems to me that recipes with sweetened condensed milk like our Eagle Brand Magic Cookie Bars, Cake Bites, and Pumpkin with with Sweetened Condensed Milk are popular desserts. There’s just something dreamy about the filling that sweetened condensed milk makes when mixed with another flavored ingredient. 

I’m a sucker for for a sweet oatmeal crumble in desserts and these bars keep my hand in the cookie jar every time we make them.

Pantry basics make a great variation to other peanut butter and chocolate desserts like Oreo Peanut Butter Pie and Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Balls.

Ingredients Needed:

• Old-fashioned oats – also called rolled oats
• Light brown sugar
• All-purpose flour
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Butter
• Peanut butter – creamy works best
• Sweetened condensed milk
• Chocolate chips – I like semi-sweet, but milk chocolate works fine too

How To Make Amish Peanut Butter Dream Bars

In a large mixing bowl fold together rolled oats, brown sugar, flour, baking soda, salt and melted butter.

This mixture is easy to mix up by hand, just be sure there’s plenty of space in a large or extra large bowl.

Set aside three cups of this mixture.

Press the remaining oat mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased jelly roll pan.

In a medium sized mixing bowl use a silicone spatula to stir together creamy peanut butter and both cans of sweetened condensed milk.

Pour over the oatmeal mixture that’s been pressed in the pan.

Use the spatula to smooth it all out.

Crumble the remaining half of the oatmeal and brown sugar mixture on top.

Take care to press a little to even out, but not too hard as the pan will be very full and you don’t want to displace the filling in the center.

Bake for 20 minutes until the top is golden brown. The pan will still jiggle because of the filling, but a toothpick will be mostly clean when inserted in the center.

Allow cookie bars to cool a bit before cutting and serving.

Store wrapped tightly or in an air tight container for up to 3 to 4 days. Bars are better fresh than frozen because of the filling.

Recipe Tips

• This makes a really big batch of bar cookies – recipe can be cut in half and baked in a square 8″ x 8″ or 9″ x 9″ pan.
• Do not substitute evaporated milk or any other type of milk for sweetened condensed milk.
• Crunchy peanut butter can be used, but the smooth and creamy peanut butter works best in the filling.
• A jelly roll pan is a smaller baking sheet that is typically 15 inches by 10 inches by 1 inch deep.

We like to serve these with our old-fashioned Hot Chicken Casserole recipe.

More Easy Dessert Bar Recipes

Easy Churro Cheesecake Bars are super popular on Pinterest and use crescent dough to make a quick and impressive dessert.

Pecan Pie Surprise Bars also have a gooey filling and taste similar to a classic pecan pie.

Easy Buckeye Bars have a layer of chocolate on top of a super sweet peanut butter mixture.

Mini Cheesecake DIY Dessert Bar is also great for parties and crowds.