Peanut butter bars can resemble a cookie, brownies or a cake in texture. Recipes for peanut butter bars can include baking soda, baking powder or no leavening at all. While each ingredient in the recipe plays a role in the final texture, you can choose the leavening based on your preferences, whether you prefer a softer or crisper bar or one that is tall or quite flat.
The Basics
Most peanut butter bars include a few basic ingredients. Butter, brown sugar, eggs, flour, salt, vanilla and peanut butter appear in nearly every recipe for baked peanut butter bars. You can also add whole grains by incorporating oats into your favorite peanut butter bar recipe. Baking soda or powder may be added along with the flour. You can top peanut butter bars with powdered sugar, chocolate or jelly.
Baking Soda
Baking soda is the traditional leavening agent used in cookies, including peanut butter cookies. Baking soda or sodium bicarbonate is a base. When combined with an acid, baking soda produces carbon dioxide, creating air bubbles and helping your peanut butter bars to rise. The brown sugar and peanut butter in peanut butter bars provide the acidic environment required for baking soda. Peanut butter bars made with baking soda are very similar to peanut butter cookies, both in flavor and texture.
Baking Powder
Baking powder contains both a base, sodium bicarbonate, and an acid, cream of tartar. When exposed to liquid, the two create a chemical reaction to help your cake or peanut butter bars rise. Baking powder is traditionally used alongside mild, non-acidic ingredients like milk in cakes and other baked goods. You can substitute 1/4 tsp. of baking soda plus 1/2 tsp. of cream of tartar for each teaspoon of baking powder if necessary. If you make peanut butter bars with baking powder rather than baking soda, they will be softer and have a more cake-like texture.
Unleavened Peanut Butter Bars
If you want a dense, rich texture, a recipe with very little chemical leavening or none at all can create a peanut butter bar that resembles a brownie. Use no more than 1/4 tsp. of baking powder if you would like to create a dense peanut butter bar. Expect your bars to be quite flat and relatively heavy for their size.
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