Gluten Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Bars with Meli’s Monster Cookies

Happy Celiac Awareness Month!! For those of you who don’t have Celiac or don’t have friends or family who have Celiac – happy month of becoming aware of this awesome (read: sarcasm) disease!! This month, we were thrilled to partner with an awesome women-run company called Meli’s Monster Cookies, to develop a recipe using their awesome gluten free boxed cookie mixes! So we give you: these DECADENT and super easy gluten free cookie bars, packed with peanut butter and chocolate (because wowsers), using the Meli’s Monster Cookies Choco-Lot Cookie mix! I haven’t used a cookie mix in ages and man aLIVE was it easy – I forgot the absolute breeze of stirring in a mix and popping your bars in the oven and them being done and made in under 30 minutes top to bottom. Just WOW. If you’re craving something sweet, Meli’s mixes are the way to go. Meli’s Monster Cookies was founded by two Melissas (Meli B. and Meli M.) who realized their recipe for monster cookies, handed down through generations, was naturally gluten free and would be perfect for a friend who had developed a gluten intolerance. And here they are now! Going strong, naturally gluten free (using certified gluten free oats), higher in protein thanks to nut butter as a key ingredient, and super versatile. And you can find them practically everywhere in the US! Check them out to find some near you or order a box or two to try!

What is Celiac?

A brief but spectacular history of Celiac (if you do have or know about Celiac already, skim on): Celiac is an autoimmune disease – making it vastly different from food allergies or intolerances (though those can be very serious too). Essentially, if a person with Celiac ingests gluten (a protein – not protein, a protein – found in wheat, rye, and barley), their body’s immune system thinks that gluten is a bad thing (like a germ or something else it needs to protect the body from) and attacks! This, of course, is not actually what the immune system should do when a normal person eats gluten, especially because this attack ends up hurting your own digestive system far more than the tiny gluten particle. It’s a bit like Don Quixote, but instead of senselessly attacking windmills, your immune system chivalrously, and senselessly, attacks tiny bits of gluten (and, in the process, wreaks havoc on your small intestine).

For me, this resulted in an inability to gain weight at age 10, slow growth, constant stomach/digestive issues (a bit graphic for a food post), and essentially being malnourished. Internally, the villi (the tiny little wiggly things lining your intestine that usually are very good at absorbing nutrition) were wholly damaged by the incessant attacks from my immune system, and couldn’t absorb anything anymore. Thankfully, Celiac also has a miraculous “cure” – just don’t eat gluten and you’re pretty much fine! So, instead of needing to take medications like other autoimmune diseases require, we’re pretty lucky to be able to heal and manage this disease through diet alone. And yes, a little bit of gluten DOES hurt – it triggers the MASSIVE overdrive of your immune system that starts attacking your insides all over again. Not worth it, folks. Some folks with Celiac may be “silent Celiacs” – they don’t feel digestive pain caused by Celiac but they can get all sorts of other negative side effects (developing other autoimmune diseases, being malnourished, etc).

SO, after all that, you should absolutely go make these awesome cookie bars because why the heck not? And, if you’re like me and LOVE chocolate and peanut butter together, why not make these chocolate peanut butter cupcakes, or these chocolate peanut butter mud cookies, or this chocolate peanut butter tart?

Print Recipe

5 from 3 votes

Gluten Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Bars with Meli’s Monster Cookies

These super-easy, absolutely-divine cookie bars use the Choco-Lot cookie mix by Meli's Monster Cookies!

Prep Time45 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Chilling time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Keyword: bars, buttercream, chocolate peanut butter, cookies, easy, ganache, peanut butter, simple

Servings: 16 bars

Calories: 350kcal

Author: Amelia Farber

Equipment

• 9×9 square baking pan
• Parchment paper
• Electric mixer

Ingredients

For the cookie bars:

• 1 box Choco-Lot Meli’s Monster Cookies mix
• ½ Cup creamy peanut butter
• ½ Cup salted butter room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• ½ tsp baking powder

For the peanut butter topping:

• ¾ Cup creamy peanut butter
• ¾ Cup salted butter room temperature
• 1 ½ Cups sifted powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ⅛ tsp salt

For the ganache:

• 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ¼ Cup creamy peanut butter
• ½ Cup heavy cream
• Pinch salt
• ¼ Cup roasted + salted peanuts roughly chopped

Instructions

To make the bars:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly spray your 9×9 inch square baking pan. Line with parchment paper (you can cut 3-inch slits into each corner of the square of parchment paper so that the corners fold easily in the pan), and then spray again with cooking spray, then set aside.
• In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the peanut butter and butter until smooth, then add the edges and beat to combine. Finally, add in the full Choco-Lot Meli’s Monster Cookies mix and the extra baking powder, and stir in using a spatula or wooden spoon. Scoop batter into your prepared pan and press evenly to the sides and into the corners. Then bake for 23-28 minutes or until just brown around the edges (it will be very soft in the center and will set as it cools). Let the cookie bars cool completely, still in the pan, before topping.

To make the peanut butter toppings:

• First, make your peanut butter topping. In a medium bowl, using the electric mixer, cream together the room temperature butter and the peanut butter until smooth. Then add in your sifted powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt and beat until fully combined and fluffy, then set aside.
• Once your cookie bars are completely cool, use a palette knife or a spoon to spread the peanut butter buttercream evenly over the top of the bars (still in the pan) – making sure to spread the topping to the edges of the pan (even if the bars have pulled away from the sides a bit!) so that you have a flat, peanut butter surface to cover with the ganache. Freeze the entire pan for 30 minutes to set the peanut butter topping.

To make the ganache:

• While the cookie bars + peanut butter topping are freezing, make the ganache! Combine your chocolate chips, salt, and peanut butter in a heat-proof bowl or multi-cup glass measuring cup. Then pour your cream in a mug and heat in the microwave for 1 minute until very hot, then pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips + peanut butter + salt and let sit for one minute before stirring carefully. Continue to stir the ganache until all of the chocolate has melted and it becomes silky and combined (this will take about 30 seconds-a minute). Then let the ganache cool down to room temp before topping your bars.
• Once the bars have frozen, use a palette knife or spoon to spread the cooled ganache over the top of the peanut butter topping, ensuring that the entire pan is covered to the edges. Then sprinkle the chopped roasted + salted peanuts on top of the ganache, and pop the entire pan back into the freezer for 30-45 minutes to set. Remove from freezer and carefully lift the bars out of the pan, then use a heated knife (you can dip a knife in hot water then dry it off) to slice into 16 squares, then serve!
• Keep bars in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer to store.

Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your bars!

Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber