Two-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bars

Easy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (with PB Cups!) — Looking for things to do with store-bought cookie dough? Look no further! These are the ultimate lazy chocolate chip cookie bars and everyone LOVES them! 

My Go-To Lazy Cookie Bars 

There are only two ingredients in these bars. And they’re gluten-free. How’s that for keeping it easy. They’re so easy and it feels like there should be a catch, but there isn’t.

I used the new Pillsbury Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, pressed it into a pan, topped it with peanut butter cups, and baked.

Many gluten-free flours and blends taste like dirt, or leave items with a gritty, sandy texture. Other times gluten-free items are dry, or they’re crumbly and fall apart from the lack of gluten and its binding properties.

These choc chip cookie bars have none of those issues. There’s no grittiness, sandiness, and they certainly don’t taste like dirt. I kind of wish they did and maybe we wouldn’t have eaten the whole pan in less than a day.

They’re incredibly moist and are melt-in-your mouth soft and tender.

The dough is buttery with plenty of chocolate chips. Many refrigerated doughs, gluten-free or not, are very skimpy on the amount chocolate chips, whereas I am not. I was pleasantly surprised at the quantity of mini chocolate chips.

And then after being doctored up with peanut butter cups, there’s definitely no shortage of chocolate. Or peanut butter. Everything is better with peanut butter, of course.

If you know someone who’s gluten-free and want to make something that’ll be incredibly good — not just ‘good for gluten-free’ but good regardless — these easy chocolate chip cookie bars are the answer.

I want all desserts that I eat or serve, gluten-free or otherwise, to be excellent otherwise I’d rather just not have it. Don’t waste calories on something that’s mediocre. This dough holds its own and I’m very picky. My family had no idea it was store-bought dough or that it was gluten-free dough at that.

Two ingredients, ready from start to finish in 20 minutes, and you’d never guess they were gluten-free.

Doesn’t get any better. Or easier.

What’s in These Easy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars? 

If you’re looking for things to do with store-bought cookie dough, look no further! To make these “lazy” chocolate chip cookie bars, as I like to call them, all you’ll need is store-bought cookie dough and full-size peanut butter cups. 

I used gluten-free cookie dough, but you’re welcome to use your favorite kind. 

How to Make These Easy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars 

Normally I’m a scratch baker and have recipes for similar bars, including Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookie Bars and Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Dough Crumble Bars. Keep those recipes gluten-free by replacing the all-purpose flour with your favorite gluten-free flour blend.

And there’s homemade vegan Peanut Butter Cups in case you’d like to do it all from scratch.

Or you can just crack open a tub of gluten-free refrigerated cookie dough and within 5 minutes, these two-ingredient wonders are ready to bake. Easy cookie bar recipes with few ingredients are my favorite! 

The most time consuming part of the recipe is unwrapping 9 peanut butter cups.

The dough on top of the lid is the reserved dough used for crumbling over the peanut butter cups.

Don’t overbake to ensure your bars stay ooey-gooey-soft-and-chewy. I baked for just over 13 minutes for super soft bars.

I’m extremely impressed with this dough, which isn’t the norm when it comes to gluten-free products.

Can I Double This Recipe? 

I don’t see why not! Use two packages of cookie dough and 18 peanut butter cups. Bake the bars in a 9×13-inch pan instead of an 8×8. 

Can I Use Another Kind of Cookie Dough? 

Of course! Whether you want to use regular chocolate chip cookie dough rather than gluten-free, or you want to experiment with another kind altogether be my guest. 

Tips for Making the Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

If you’re concerned with making this recipe completely gluten-free, double check the label of your peanut butter cups to make sure they’re certified gluten-free. Not all are! 

If you’d rather make the cookie dough from scratch, you’re welcome to. I have lots of chocolate chip cookie recipes on my site! 

These bars will keep up to 1 week at room temperature … if they last that long at your house! 

Save Saved Review Print

4.72 from 7 votes

Easy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (with PB Cups!)

By Averie Sunshine

Looking for things to do with store-bought cookie dough? Look no further! These are the ultimate lazy chocolate chip cookie bars and everyone LOVES them! 

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 13 minutes minutes

Total Time: 18 minutes minutes

Servings: 9

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Ingredients  

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• ▢ one 14.3-ounce refrigerated tub Pillsbury Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
• ▢ 9 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (or similar; or Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

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Instructions 

• Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-inch square pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray; set aside.
• Press three-quarters of the dough into the base of the pan to create a smooth, flat, even base layer. Reserve the remainder.
• Evenly place peanut butter cups on top of dough in 3 rows of 3 cups each.
• Haphazardly crumble the reserved dough over the top in marble-sized pieces.
• Bake for 13 to 14 minutes, or until edges have set and top is just beginning to set, even if slightly undercooked, pale and glossy in the center. Do not bake longer than 14 minutes for soft bars because they firm up as they cool.
• Allow bars to cool in pan for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Notes

Bars will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 4 months.

Nutrition

Serving: 1, Calories: 226kcal, Carbohydrates: 26g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 14g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Cholesterol: 3mg, Sodium: 160mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 22g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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Thanks to Pillsbury® for sponsoring today’s post.