Christmas bar cookies are one of Santa’s favorite treats. But that’s just one great thing about this easy holiday dessert.
These are perfect for your holiday cookie exchange and you can make them in just 35 minutes!
What are these?
These Christmas cookie bars are a jazzed-up holiday version of chocolate chip cookies in bar form. It’s amazing what some holiday colors and a little powdered sugar can do to dress things up!
Featuring just a handful of ordinary ingredients, these festive Christmas bars go together in minutes. And they are finished baking in just about 30 minutes.
Ingredients and notes
These are nothing more than chocolate chip cookie bars, with a holiday twist!
- Chocolate Chips – For convenience sake, I use a bag of the Nestle Toll House Holiday semi-sweet chips. They are a combination of red, green, and chocolate colored chocolate chips.
- Eggs – I like to use large eggs. And make sure your eggs are at room temperature before baking. This helps the cookie bars to bake more evenly (and faster.) Here’s a great tip on how to quickly bring eggs to room temperature.
- Butter – Make sure it is at room temperature before mixing with the other ingredients. Some people prefer to use ½ butter and ½ shortening. This can give you a chewier cookie bar. I often make this substitution.
- Flour – All-purpose flour is fine for making these Christmas bars.
- Brown Sugar – I prefer using light brown sugar for its lighter color and flavor tones, when making these recipe. If all you have is the dark variety, that will still work.
Variations
Easily make these into M&M cookie bars by using holiday colored M&M’s. Other yummy substitutions can be:
How to make them
There are only a few steps for making these Christmas bar cookies, which which is why the go together so fast.
- Mix the cookie batter but only use ½ of the chocolate chips. You’ll use the other half in the next step.
- Evenly spread the batter in a greased 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Using an off-set spatula is a great way to do this. When you have the batter in the pan, evenly distribute the remaining chocolate chips over the top. Use the palms of your hand to gently press them into the batter.
- Bake these Christmas bars at 350° for 30 minutes. Always preheat your oven!
- Let these cool on a rack, in the pan, before cutting.
At this point, these Christmas cookie bars are ready for anything!
- Add them to your holiday cookie exchange.
- Dunk in your favorite hot beverage or cold glass of milk.
- Give some to your mail carrier, friend, or neighbor.
Common recipe questions
These should be good to eat for up to 7 days. Store them at room temperature in a sealed container such as a zip-lock bag or a tupperware-like container.
Yes! These bars freeze well in an air-tight zip-lock bag, for up to 3 months. Simply thaw to room temperature before serving.
Making these Christmas bars ahead of time and then freezing them is a great way to get a head-start on your Christmas cookie exchange!
I’m hoping that these holiday dessert bars will help put you in your happy place. As I learned from my dad so many years ago, it doesn’t hurt a person to be there every once in a while.
Happy holidays to you and yours and thanks for reading Platter Talk. It means the world to us.
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📖 Recipe
Christmas Bar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened to room temperature
- 1 ¾ cup brown sugar packed
- 2 eggs large
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 11 oz holiday colored chocolate chips divided in half
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Using a stand mixer, combine butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. Beat until creamy, about 2 minutes.
- Gradually add flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until well combined.
- Add one half chocolate chips and stir until well incorporated.
- Evenly spread batter in an ungreased 9×13 inch baking dish. Evenly distribute reserved chocolate chips on top of batter and use palm of one hand to gently push chips into batter.
- Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean, after being inserted into center of pan. Allow to cool thoroughly on a baking rack before cutting and serving.
Video
Notes
- You can use ½ butter and ½ shortening for this recipe.
- Substitute the chocolate chips for M&M’s and you can turn these into holiday M&M cookie bars.
- Be sure your eggs are at room temperature before adding them to the batter.
