These festive Christmas 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 cookie bar recipes to try first.
Derby Skillet Cookie
Brie Passano
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 and a soft inside. Serve warm and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for the ultimate decadent experience.
Copycat Musketeer Bars
Andy Lyons
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.
Peppermint Cream Bites
Karla Conrad
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.
Pumpkin Creme Bars
Blaine Moats
Creamy pumpkin sandwiches between a crumb crust and topping with toffee pieces for holiday cookie bars with extra sweetness.
Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars
Karla Conrad
Be prepared for our Christmas bar recipes to disappear from your holiday buffet. Luckily, you can make these chocolate chip cookie bars any time of year. Creamy cheesecake and chocolate decadence means these bars never go out of season but with only six ingredients they’re ideal for easy holiday baking.
No-Bake Butterscotch Bars
Kritsada Panichgul
When your oven’s full, a no-bake holiday dessert—made with love—can be a perfect, time-saving addition to the menu. These crispy, no-bake, butterscotch bar 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.
Salted Peanut Butter and Chocolate Blondies
Andy Lyons
We know that peanut butter and chocolate play well together. So playoff 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.
Coconut Joy Candy Bars
Andy Lyons
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.
Gooey Chocolate-Caramel Bars
Andy Lyons
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.
Marcona Almond-Toffee Bars
Andy Lyons
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.
Crème Brûlée Cheesecake Bars
Andy Lyons
This is one Christmas bar recipe showy enough to share at fancy dinner gatherings. Combine two favorite desserts into one with these crème brûlée cheesecake bars. You can caramelize the sugar on top under a broiler, but a culinary torch gives the best results.
Pistachio Bars
Jason Donnelly
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.
Cinnamon Bars
Andy Lyons
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.
No-Bake Coconut Date Cracker Bars with Browned Butter Glaze
Jason Donnelly
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?!
Chewy Chocolate-Caramel Bars
Blaine Moats
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.
Pomegranate-Raspberry Bars
Blaine Moats
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.
Chewy Cherry-Almond Bars
Blaine Moats
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.
Pecan-Crusted Mojito Bars
Jason Donnelly
When you’re in the midst of a cold spell or a snowstorm, doesn’t a taste of the tropics sound perfect in front of the fireplace? 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.
Cherry Crumb Bars
Blaine Moats
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.
Crème De Menthe Brownies
Jason Donnelly
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.
Macadamia Bars with Eggnog Drizzle
Blaine Moats
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.
Twixy Shortbread Bars
Blaine Moats
Sandwich a creamy dulce de leche filling between tender shortbread and fudgy frosting for layered bars. Cut the dessert into bite-size squares or into rectangles to resemble a much-loved candy bar classic.
Honey-Roasted Peanut Butter Bars with Chocolate Ganache
Andy Lyons
Count us in for these peanut butter cookie bars that look like supersized peanut butter cups. A rich layer of devil’s food cake and a fudgy topping mean these easy bar cookies are a chocolate fan’s dream. A creamy peanut butter filling complements chopped honey-roasted peanuts. The result is the ideal sweet-salty blend.
Peanutty Buckeye Bars
Blaine Moats
Shh…we won’t tell your guests you started these rich bars with a box of brownie mix. Then it’s a matter of stirring together five more ingredients, including creamy peanut butter and chopped peanuts. Make the bars up to 3 months in advance and freeze for a fast-fix treat come holiday season.
Cappuccino-Caramel Oat Bars
Karla Conrad
These oatmeal cookie bars have your favorite breakfast flavors in a bar. Rolled oats—either quick-cooking or old-fashioned—give these caramel bars chewiness. Instant coffee crystals add richness.