Gluten-free Peanut Butter Christmas Dream Bars

These bars are the stuff dreams are made of! I decided to call them gluten-free Peanut Butter Christmas Dream Bars. I love these and think you and your loved ones will too!

This is a very old recipe of mine that I found in my old recipe box a few weeks ago. My notes on it were that I last made it back in 2008 and everyone liked it! But that was way back before I had to start eating gluten-free! I was excited to pull this one out and see if it converted over easily (it did) and bring it to our small group (Bible study group).

It was such a hit when I brought it to our small group a few weeks ago that I made it again to bring to our small group Christmas party. This small group is new to us this year, and everyone in it is too. It’s been super fun to meet a whole new group of people. One thing with all new people is that I could see they were definitely wary about trying my gluten-free desserts! The first time I brought treats, I brought these and my gluten-free eggnog pie, which I had tested that same day. I was smiling as people asked for very small slices of pie and also broke these bars in half to try. How sweet that they were willing to try, but I had high hopes that they’d be impressed.

They were! I came home with an empty pie plate and an empty platter that once held these bars! After their tentative try-me bites, they came back for seconds! These bars were a huge hit and I have already been asked to share the recipe. If you’ve been following my blog for long, you know that my goal is for gluten-eaters to love my baked goods as much as gluten-free eaters. I regularly have gluten-eating friends and family test every single recipe to make sure it meets their standards. I don’t want anything to just be good for gluten-free, I want it to be good!!

These bars are made in a 9×13 pan. I used my trusty glass Pyrex pan, so that I could put the lid on it for transporting, but you can use any 9×13 pan. These bars are very rich, so I recommend cut them into 24 or 30 bars, depending on whether other treats are being served as well.

Notes on ingredients:

• Certified gluten-free oats – Be sure to use oats that are certified gluten-free. I recommend avoiding any that aren’t certified, even if they are labeled gluten-free. My go to is GF Harvest old fashioned rolled oats or GF Harvest organic old fashioned rolled oats.
• Gluten-free flour blend – like most of my recipes, this recipe has been tested with both of my favorite flour blends: gfJules gluten-free all-purpose flour and Gluten-free Mama almond flour blend. You can buy gfJules directly here or on Amazon here. You can buy Gluten-free Mama directly here or on Amazon here. I’m sure other high quality flour blends would work in this as well. My advice is to just avoid ones with bean flours, only rice flour, or with coconut flour.
• M&M’s – Plain M&Ms are listed as gluten-free, so they’re my go-to.
• Peanut Butter – I use a natural creamy peanut butter that contains salt and recommend that. If you’d like chunks of peanuts, then go for chunky! Just make sure you’re using a salted variety, no matter what type of peanut butter you use.
• Sweetened Condensed Milk – This is the secret, dreamy ingredient that makes this creamy peanut butter layer in these bars. I’m sorry that this rules out everyone needing to be dairy-free! Someday I hope there will be a dairy-free equivalent of sweetened condensed milk!

If you make these for your holiday cookie trays, cookies for Santa, or gifts for friends and neighbors, I think they’ll all be happy! Enjoy and happy holiday baking to you!

Gluten-free Peanut Butter Dream Bars

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I tested these with gfJules and Gluten-free Mama's almond flour blend. Both worked well. If using gfJules, or another blend with xanthan already in it, then omit the additional xanthan called for.

Ingredients

• 2 cups certified gluten-free old-fashioned or rolled oats
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour*
• 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum (omit if flour blend already has xanthan or guar gum)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup melted salted butter
• 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup creamy salted peanut butter
• 1 cup M&M's - use holiday colors for holiday
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks

Directions

You can make this using your stand mixer, a hand mixer, or just mix by hand in a large bowl.
In a large bowl, combine gluten-free oats, brown sugar, gluten-free flour, xanthan (if needed), baking soda, and salt.
Stir in melted butter and pure vanilla extract until you have a moist, crumbly mixture.
Measure out 1 cup of this crumble mixture and set aside to use as the topping later.
Spray a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray. Press oat mixture evenly into bottom of pan. I like to use some plastic wrap or a plastic glove sprayed with cooking oil to help me do this easily.
Bake at 375⁰ for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest on cooling rack or hot pads for 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together the sweetened condensed milk and creamy peanut butter until well mixed. Carefully spread over the baked crust. 

Sprinkle with M&M's and chocolate chips. 

Drop small pieces of the reserved 1 cup of oat mixture all over the top of chocolate. My dough pieces were roughly dime-sized and smaller. You'll still be able to see much of the layers underneath. 

Bake 24-25 minutes at 375⁰ or until some parts are turning golden brown. Remove from oven to cooling rack. Let cool completely before cutting. I cut mine in a 4x6 grid, yielding 24 bars. But these are very rich, so you can definitely cut even smaller if you want to feed more people!

by Michelle Palin ~ My Gluten-free Kitchen

3.7 rating

12 reviews