Nutter Butter Cookie Bars. – Half Baked Harvest

Nutter Butter Cookie Bars. These lightly sweetened, buttery peanut cookie bars are sandwiched with creamy peanut butter filling and then finished with a sprinkle of sea salt. Every last bite is sweet, peanutty, and so DELICIOUS. Absolutely nothing not to love. Just like those classic nutter butter cookies but transformed into an even yummier bar.

Happy Friday, everyone! Two peanut butter recipes this week mean one thing to me: it must be back-to-school, back-to-football time. Every August, without even thinking about it, my ideas start shifting into more of a September mindset. Once we have even a few cooler days, everyone gets excited about fall and all its colorful splendor.

Many kids are soon heading back to school, and the NFL pre-season is underway. Yes, it’s time to start thinking about fall—it’s feeling so close!

Of course, it’s 86 degrees and sunny outside in New York today, but I’ll never complain about that.

I grew up primarily in Cleveland, and anyone from Ohio knows that once football season returns, it’s also Buckeye season.

And not just the Ohio State Buckeyes. Buckeyes, the treats, are chocolate-covered peanut butter balls. They’re like peanut butter cups, but actually better because homemade Buckeyes taste real. I find peanut butter cup candies to taste kind of artificial and overly sweet.

With this recipe, I originally wanted to do some kind of mix between a nutter butter and a buckeye, but what I attempted was disastrous. So, I reverted back to a simple peanut butter cookie bar sandwiched with a creamy peanut butter filling. The result was salty, sweet, and YUMMY. More of a simple cookie bar, but so good.

Details To Know

Step 1: make the peanut cookie base

This is a shortbread cookie base, so it’s more crumbly than sweet. You’ll beat butter with brown sugar and creamy peanut butter. I use no-sugar-added peanut butter with salt.

I also always use salted butter. It makes such a difference!

Once creamed, you can mix in the vanilla. If you want a more sturdy cookie, you can add one egg, too, but I don’t typically do this.

Then, flour, baking powder, and salt.

Step 2: the peanut filling

Next, mix butter with peanut butter and powdered sugar.

Beat this mix together until it’s very light and fluffy.

Step 3: assemble

Press half of the peanut butter cookie dough into the bottom of a square baking pan. Spread the peanut filling over the base, then crumble the remaining cookie dough over the peanut butter.

It’s OK if the dough doesn’t cover up all of the peanut butter.

Step 4: bake

Bake the pan for 25 minutes. The edges should be set and turning golden.

While warm, sprinkle the tops of the cookie bars with sea salt, then let the bars cool completely.

It’s important to let these bars cool before cutting. I found them easiest to cut once they had time to sit and chill. Because this is a shortbread cookie base, the cookies will be more on the crumbly side.

What I love about these cookie bars is that they’re easy to make and don’t require any chilling ahead of baking. They have all the old-school vibes I was going for.

Bake these for any upcoming school events/bake sales, dinner parties, birthday parties, game nights, etc. They’re always so loved. 

I recommend testing these out tonight – eat a few and welcome in the weekend!

Looking for other homemade back-to-school recipes? Here are a few ideas: 

Goldfish

Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts

Chocolate Fudge Pop Tarts

Homemade nutter butter cookies

Lastly, if you make these Nutter Butter Cookie Bars be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And, of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!