Peanut butter and butterscotch is such an awesome flavor combination, and so under-used.
One of my favorite peanut butter cookie recipes is in my cookbook and it’s a peanut butter-butterscotch cookie.
I was craving something with butterscotch so I made these easy, no-mixer, soft, chewy bars.
They begin like blondies with melted butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla.
Add peanut butter, flour, and quick-cook oats, which lend incredible texture and chewiness to the otherwise soft, buttery bars.
If you don’t typically buy quick-cook oats and only have old-fashioned whole rolled oats, simply pulse or blend the old-fashioned oats for about 10 seconds in your food processor or blender. Now you’ve got quick oats.
Before baking, sprinkle with butterscotch chips. The scent of melting butterscotch chips, peanut butter, and oats that wafts from the oven while the bars bake is positively intoxicating.
Bake the bars until the edges are slightly firm and the center has just set. It’s a little tricky to tell if the bars are done because the surface is covered in semi-melted butterscotch chips, but 25 minutes did the trick for me.
While the bars bake, make the frosting because it goes on right as the bars emerge from the oven. No waiting around for them to cool.
The peanut butter frosting is thick, luscious, and you’ll be tempted to eat the whole bowl during those 25 minutes while the bars bake.
The frosting sets up satiny smooth, creamy, and beautiful. I’m going to remember this frosting for other recipes because it’s so easy, the texture and taste are both wonderful, and it would be great on most any cake, muffin, banana bread, or cinnamon rolls.
The butterscotch flavor is prominent and really shines. Sweet with a bit of saltiness, caramely, and buttery. If you’re a fan of butterscotch, you’ll love these.
The bars taste much more complicated than the simple, everyday ingredients used. Love it when that happens.
Pin This Recipe
Enjoy AverieCooks.com Without Ads! 🆕
Go Ad Free
Peanut Butter Butterscotch Bars
Ingredients
Bars
- heaping 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup quick-cooking oats, not old-fashioned whole rolled
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- ¾ cup butterscotch chips
Frosting
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- ⅓ cup creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup cream or milk, I used half-and-half
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-inch square pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- Bars – To the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric mixer), add the peanut butter, butter, sugars, and beat on medium-high speed to cream, about 3 minutes.
- Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the flour, oats, optional salt, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute; don’t overmix.
- Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
- Evenly sprinkle with butterscotch chips.
- Bake for about 25 minutes, or until edges are slightly firm and the center has just set. It’s a little tricky to tell if the bars are done because the surface is covered in semi-melted butterscotch chips, but a toothpick inserted in the center (if you can find a bare patch to test) should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. While bars bake, make the frosting.
- Frosting – To the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric mixer), add the peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar, cream, and beat on medium-high speed until smooth, satiny, and creamy, about 3 minutes. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl, cover bowl with plastic wrap; set aside.
- As soon as you pull bars from the oven, add the frosting (don’t wait for them to cool). Smooth the top lightly with a spatula or knife, and allow bars to cool completely in pan before slicing and serving. Bars will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
©averiecooks.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
Related Recipes
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Granola Bars (no-bake, vegan, GF) – Healthy bars that taste like cookies with a butterscotch drizzle
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookie Bars – Soft peanut butter bars with big chunks of chocolate in every bite! Faster & easier than making cookies
Lofthouse-Style Soft Peanut Butter Chip Sugar Cookies with Peanut Butter Frosting – One of my top 5 cookie recipes on my site. So amazing
Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Scotchies Cookies – My favorite oatmeal cookie base loaded with sweet butterscotch chips. A classic cookie that you’ve just got to try
Browned Butter Caramel and Butterscotch Bars
Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Fluffernutter Cookies with Peanut Butter Buttercream
Coconut Oatmeal Toffee Cookies – Add your favorite add-ins like butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips, or raisins to these easy, small-batch, no mixer required cookies
Peanut Butter Comfort – My cookbook featuring over 100 Peanut Butter Recipes
great
Hi, I want to try your Yellow Cake recipe with a butterscotch icing . Do you have a butterscotch icing recipe. I searched your site but came up with none .
Thanks …Kathleen
I think this may be what you want, it’s a boiled brown sugar icing https://www.averiecooks.com/apple-zucchini-bread-with-brown-sugar-frosting/ Perhaps you call that butterscotch, but it’s soooo good no matter what you call it.
These were great–easy to make, even easier going down our throats. ;)
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! I love how you randomly make older recipes of mine out of the blue!! This wasn’t isn’t ‘old’ but it’s over a year and I love that you go back and try things!
I’m on a roll, Averie! I’ve tried several of your recipes this week and they have turned out great!! This recipe was “really really really really good” in the words of my 12 year old sister. Peanut butter and butterscotch really do complement each other amazingly. Although, my frosting was more of a caramely color while yours is a soft pink color…is that because you used half and half(I used just milk)?
It could just be the lighting. The day I shot these I remember wearing a pink shirt – it could have reflected onto the icing! Glad you loved the bars!
So the secret to these (if you love exercising) is to make 2 batches of frosting, and one batch of bar….that way you still have frosting when it comes time to put it on the bars instead of your spoon (or spatula, or in my case finger) It’s amazing how much frosting you actually can gobble up just doing the “dip taste” method of frosting….Great Recipe! These bars are in my “keep collection” Love it!
Thanks for making these, Jen, and so glad you can understand about the frosting…LOL and wanting to double it right off the bat. I know, plenty of taste-testing on my part, too! Glad these are going into your keep collection!