Forget Batch Cookie Making with These 35 Easy Holiday Bar Cookies

By Karla Walsh
February 19, 2016
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Karla Conrad
These festive holiday cookie bar recipes—including sugar cookie bars, peanut butter cookie bars, and classic brownies—make delicious gifts and holiday desserts. With make-ahead options, store-bought shortcuts, and mix-and-match topping ideas, the hardest part of your holiday dessert prep will be choosing which of these marvelous and merry Christmas bar recipes to try first.
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Christmas Tree Coffee Brownies

justataste.com
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Mocha fans, we’ve got you covered. A couple teaspoons of espresso powder perks up this Christmas bar recipe for extra rich flavor. Slice the bars into triangles and garnish with green and white sprinkles to transform brownies into trees.

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Derby Skillet Cookie

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Savor a taste of the Kentucky classic dessert—Derby Pie—in these chocolate chip cookie bars. Baking them in a cast-iron skillet results in a crisp outside, soft insides. Serve warm and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for the ultimate decadent experience.

Related: 13 Desserts You Can Make in a Cast-Iron Skillet

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Copycat Musketeer Bars

Andy Lyons
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Calling all chocoholics! Like the candy bars that inspired these copycat bars, these squares have fluffy marshmallow creme filling between layers of chocolate. Bar cookies that are as yummy as a candy bar? Doubly delicious.

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Peppermint Cream Bites

Karla Conrad
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Loaded with mint extract, these holiday cookie bars are simultaneously refreshing and indulgent. Rich layers of peppermint cream and chocolate fudge top chocolate cookie crumb crust. Keep some on hand in the fridge for up to two weeks or freezer for up to three months to cut down on holiday season stress.

Related: Freezer-Friendly Holiday Cookies You Can Start Today

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Almost Like Peanut Butter Cups Bars

Andy Lyons
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Filled with peanut butter and honey graham cereal and topped with smooth chocolate and chopped peanut butter cups, this holiday dessert will skyrocket into best-peanut-butter-cookie-bar territory.

Related: 21 Amazing Ways to Turn Extra Candy into Decadent Desserts

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Pumpkin Creme Bars

Blaine Moats
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Creamy pumpkin sandwiches between a crumb crust and topping with toffee pieces for holiday cookie bars with extra sweetness.

Related: 15 Canned Pumpkin Recipes That Use the Whole Can

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Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

Karla Conrad
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Creamy cheesecake and sinful chocolate means these bars never go out of season. You can make these chocolate chip cookie bars any time of year, but with only six ingredients they're ideal for easy holiday baking. They're sure to disappear from your Christmas buffet.

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No-Bake Butterscotch Bars

Kritsada Panichgul
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Combine convenience with from-the-heart holiday baking for these top-rated no-bake butterscotch bars. The crispy cookies feature a trifecta of indulgent layers, including crunchy peanut butter cereal, rich butterscotch pudding, and a candy bar-studded chocolate spread.

Test Kitchen Tip: Cut costs when making desserts that call for purchased cereal by opting for a bulk bag of a generic variety.

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Red Plum Shortbread Bars

Blaine Moats
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The flavor and color of plum jam brightens rich shortbread. If you’re interested in mixing things up, try this cookie bar recipe with a different flavor of red (for the season) jam like raspberry, cherry, or strawberry.

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Salted Peanut Butter and Chocolate Blondies

Andy Lyons
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We know that peanut butter and chocolate play well together. So play off that combo in these blondies by topping peanut butter cookie bars with squares of chocolate. Let the chocolate melt a bit, then bring out the peanutty saltiness with a sprinkle sea salt.

Buy It: Jacobsen Salt Co. Flake Finishing Sea Salt, $12.95, Williams Sonoma

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Coconut Joy Candy Bars

Andy Lyons
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These cookie bars need only 20 minutes of prep, so you can focus on lighting the fire and greeting guests at your holiday get-together. Four cups of coconut, plus almonds and almond extract, mean these treats taste like one of America’s most popular candies.

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Gooey Chocolate-Caramel Bars

Andy Lyons
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Chocolate and caramel. Peanut butter and jelly. Those classic combos come together in these gooey bites to form one of our favorite Christmas bar recipes. Best of all, these treats can be made ahead and frozen for up to three months.

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Marcona Almond-Toffee Bars

Andy Lyons
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S’mores meet toffee candy bars in these nutty treats. Chocolate pieces, toffee bits, and salty Marcona almonds top a graham cracker crust. For a creamy finishing touch, drizzle sweetened condensed milk on top.

Buy It: Sur la Table Platinum 9 x 13 Cake Pan, $24.95, Sur la Table

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Creme Brulee Cheesecake Bars

Andy Lyons
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This is one Christmas bar recipe showy enough to share at fancy dinner gatherings. Combine two favorite desserts into one with these creme brûlée cheesecake bars. You can caramelize the sugar on top under a broiler, but a culinary torch gives the best results.

Buy It: Kitchen Torch, $49.95, Williams Sonoma

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Nestling Butterfinger Bars

Andy Lyons
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Use one of your favorite candy bars as inspiration for—and as the surprise inside—this simple treat. Ready in less than an hour, these are perfect for the busy holiday season and have the right mix of crunchy (corn flakes) and creamy (peanut butter).

Test Kitchen Tip: If you're sharing these with someone allergic to peanuts, try the peanut butter cookie bars with almond butter or sunflower seed butter instead.

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Almond-Chocolate Bar Cookies

Jason Donnelly
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Two kinds of melted chocolate top these crunchy bars filled with chocolate, toffee, and almonds. Make the holiday bar recipe ahead of your holiday party and freeze them for up to one month.

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Pistachio Bars

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Holiday guests will go nuts for these pistachio-studded no-bake cookie bars. Creamy pudding fills a graham cracker crust and smooth chocolate topping for cookie greatness without the batch-by-batch baking.

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Cinnamon Bars

Andy Lyons
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Make the holidays a little sweeter with our easy cinnamon-flavor cookie bars. The quick-prep dessert skips crusts and complicated layers so you can serve dessert fast.

Test Kitchen Tip: Cut the cinnamon sugar cookie bars into diamonds, squares, or sticks to make your cookie platter stand out.

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Salted Peanut Bars

Blaine Moats
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The salted caramel food trend is showing no signs of slowing, and we’re all aboard the trend train. Gooey caramel tops these salty-sweet classics inspired by the favorite salted-nut candy bar. The chewy Christmas bar recipe is ready for the holiday dessert spread in less than an hour.

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No-Bake Coconut Date Cracker Bars with Browned Butter Glaze

Jason Donnelly
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A trio of seasonal favorites stars in these holiday cookie bars. Dates, coconut, and pecans get an upgrade when paired with a rich rum filling and buttery glaze. So much better than a bricklike fruitcake, right?!

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Chewy Chocolate-Caramel Bars

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Filled with crunchy walnuts and melty chocolate pieces, this chewy bar cookie is a cinch to make. The secret? It starts with a German chocolate cake mix. Make the six-ingredient chocolate chip cookie bars up to 3 months in advance.

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Pomegranate-Raspberry Bars

Blaine Moats
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Holiday desserts don't come much prettier and festive than this. Pomegranate juice and raspberries give these fruit bars their Santa-approved red. Top the finished cookie bars with fresh pomegranate seeds.

Related: How to Seed and Juice and Pomegranate

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Chewy Cherry-Almond Bars

Blaine Moats
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These fruity cookie bars feature a layer of cherry preserves baked inside a hearty oat-almond crust. Not a cherry fan? Swap the preserves for orange, raspberry, strawberry, or peach.

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Pecan-Crusted Mojito Bars

Jason Donnelly
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So light, so fresh. When you’re in the midst of a polar vortex or a snowstorm, doesn’t a taste of the tropics sound refreshing? These minty lime-infused cookie bars get their crunch from chopped pecans and their tang from finely shredded lime zest. Fresh mint and dusting of powdered sugar hint at the sweet zing inside.

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Cherry Crumb Bars

Blaine Moats
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Cherry cobbler meets blondies in these oatmeal cookie bars. Tart cherries balanced with a sweet powdered sugar icing make these moist bar cookies hard to resist. A package of oatmeal cookie mix makes the bars a snap to prepare.

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Creme De Menthe Brownies

Jason Donnelly
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If you crave peppermint patties or thin mint cookies, this Christmas bar recipe is for you. Dark chocolate ganache is the true icing on the cake of this minty chocolate dessert. Make your own crème de menthe filling with butter, powdered sugar, milk, and mint extract.

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Macadamia Bars with Eggnog Drizzle

Blaine Moats
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Eggnog doesn't have to be limited to a glass. Eggnog frosting and fresh nutmeg top these irresistible snacks. Macadamia nuts add crunch to the easy stir-and-pour holiday cookie bars.

Related: 8 Eggnog Recipes You Can Sip

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Christmas Blondies

Andy Lyons
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Fruitcake ingredients—including brandy, candied cherries, and toasted walnuts—fill this holiday cookie bar recipe. It’s like the ultimate Santa-approved mash-up recipe! White chocolate pieces complete the quick-prep dessert.

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Butterscotch-Toffee Bars

Andy Lyons
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For a speedy holiday-worthy dessert, try these six-ingredient toffee bar cookies. They're ready in 30 minutes. You'll want to keep a box of yellow cake mix in the pantry so you can whip up the Christmas bar recipe even on busy days.

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Apricot-Rosemary Streusel Bars

Jason Donnelly
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When the dessert bar is crowded with sweets. The savory herb flavor of this holiday dessert recipe will shine. Fresh rosemary adds depth to these buttery streusel bars filled with apricots.

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