Best Ever Oh Henry Bars Recipe

First Published: April 20, 2015. Last updated April 16, 2025 for editorial improvements.

🎥 Video

Sweet, salty, crunchy, and creamy—these Oh Henry Bars (or O Henrys, Scotcharoos…whatever your grandma called 'em) are pure peanut butter-chocolate magic. They come together in minutes, travel like a dream, and disappear even faster. No corn syrup here—just the classic, old-school version you grew up loving. Perfect for bake sales, potlucks, lunchboxes, or sneaky kitchen snacks with a cold glass of milk. Peanut allergy? Check the tips for easy swaps. Go ahead and make a batch…then maybe hide a few for yourself.

🧾 Ingredients

🔪 Instructions

📖 Recipe

Oh Henry Bars

4.50 from 12 votes

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Oh Henry bars are kind of like a granola bar covered with melted Reese's peanut butter cups. Easy recipe - kids can make them with supervision. Gluten free - and be sure to read the tips section for suggestions for peanut butter substitutes.

Course Bar cookies

Cuisine Amercian Heritage,American - Vintage

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

Chill: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings:24

Calories:268

Author:Marye Audet-White

Ingredients

• ▢ 4 cups oats, Old fashioned or quick
• ▢ ½ cup sugar
• ▢ 1 cup brown sugar
• ▢ 1 cup butter, melted
• ▢ 6 ounces chocolate chips
• ▢ 1 cup peanut butter

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Grease 13" x 9 ” pan or spray with no-stick cooking spray.
• Cover with parchment paper and spray with more no-stick spray if desired.
• Mix oats, sugar and brown sugar in large bowl.
• Pour melted butter over and mix well.
• Press into pan firmly and bake for 15 - 20 minutes.
• Cool.
• Melt chocolate and peanut butter together stirring to blend.
• Spread over cooled cookie base.
• Chill 1 hour…IF you can wait that long.
• Cut into 2 dozen bars.

Notes

Storage:

Cover with plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to 3 days. You can also refrigerate for 5 days or so or freeze for 2 months.

Expert Tip: If there are allergies to peanuts use almond butter. soy nut butter, or sunflower seed butter in place of the peanut butter.

• Old fashioned or quick oats are fine - just don't use instant oatmeal. It won't work!!
• Brown sugar- either golden or dark is fine. It's up to your tastes.
• Double check your products for gluten but these are, as far as I know, gluten free.

Be sure to read the Tips, Variations, and FAQs sections in the post for more helpful information.

You'll find more helpful tips and variations in the body of the post.

Nutrition Facts

Calories: 268kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 21mg | Sodium: 125mg | Potassium: 133mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 250IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 30mg | Iron: 0.9mg

Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.

💭 Things to know

Expert Tip: If there are allergies to peanuts use almond butter, soy nut butter, or sunflower seed butter in place of the peanut butter. Or, your favorite alternative.

• Make sure you break up any lumps in the brown sugar.
• Peanut butter - creamy or chunky - just remember if you use chunky it will give the chocolate topping a lot of texture.
• Oh Henry bars can be made ahead, covered, and stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Or freeze them for up to a month. Thaw before serving.
• If it's hot you might want to store them in the refrigerator.

📖 Variations

• Add chopped peanuts to the top.
• Try using crunchy peanut butter.
• Sometimes I put chopped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups on top.
• Use white chocolate chips instead of chocolate.
• Add toasted coconut to the top.
• Sprinkle crushed graham crackers on top.
• Use milk chocolate chips.
• Try butterscotch chips in place of the melted chocolate chips.

👩‍🍳 FAQs

📚 Related recipes

• This peanut butter pie is another chocolate and peanut butter masterpiece.
• In the mood for candy? These peanut butter truffles are delicious!
• I love this Reese's peanut butter cheesecake! It's dense and creamy.

What’s new? Check out my Restless Chipotle & Co. Store on Amazon where you'll find all kinds of nostalgic goodness!  Thanks so much for being a part of Restless Chipotle!

These easy bar cookies are bound to bring back some amazing memories. You may even make some new ones for your own kids.

✍🏻 A note from Marye...

I have my mother's old Better Homes and Garden's cookbook, circa 1939... or something like that. It's super old.

It's got a lot of vintage recipes, the stuff I grew up on, but there is something I like better. Stuffed in the pages is a treasure trove of papers that Mom cut, collected, and procured for seven decades.

There are recipes that were my grandmother's, aunts', and ancestors unknown. There are recipes from brands that no longer exist and brands that are still around.

Memories. Memories with all of them.

This recipe for Oh Henry Bars with oatmeal is in there, faded, stained, and kind of frazzled looking but its appearance attests to the popularity of the recipe.

I've seen it called O' Henry Bars and plain Henry Bars depending on which cookbook I'm looking at. They're all the same. Yummy peanut butter and chocolate over a crunchy oat base.

Vintage recipes have a way of bringing back our memories with each nibble. I love making the dishes that I loved as a child and sharing them, along with the memories that go with them, with my kids and grandkids.

Things that no one makes anymore like Butterscotch Buckaroons and Peanut Butter Molasses cookies are flavors that are going to be forgotten and gone forever soon - and that would be a shame, don't you think?

These Rice Krispie Treats are another favorite recipe!