Christmas Cookie Bars Recipe
Christmas Cookie Bars are the best blondies dressed up with holiday M&Ms and sprinkles! These are the best bars for Christmas because they’re easy to make and freezer-friendly. Make a batch to give away to family and friends or save them for your family to enjoy through the holiday season.
Servings: 24 servings
Calories: 205kcal
Cost: $8
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter
- 2 cups (400g) packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cups (248g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup Christmas M&Ms or your favorite color
- ½ cup Christmas sprinkles use jimmies for best results
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9x13” metal pan with foil and spray well with cooking spray.
- Mix butter and brown sugar with a stand or a hand mixer until crumbly. Mix in eggs and vanilla until smooth. Mix in salt, baking powder, then flour. Stir in M&Ms and sprinkles.
- Spread in prepared pan. The mixture is wet so it’s best to spray your hands with cooking spray and then smooth the dough with your hands to get an even layer. Top with remaining mix-ins
- Bake for about 22-25 minutes until they start to turn golden. Err on the side of under baked with these - they’ll finish baking as the cool and you don’t want them over baked. Slice into bars.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days or freeze for up to a month.
Notes
- Use any color M&Ms and sprinkles for any holiday
- Make sure to measure your flour and sugar correctly
- Store in an airtight container and they'll last up to a week, making them perfect for shipping.
- Jimmies are the long rod-type sprinkles (not the little round balls).
- People are reporting that these are "raw" after cooking. Having made this recipe countless times with different add ins and for this post (it's even in my book), this is NOT the case. They will get golden brown around the edges and on top, no longer be glossy and will be a bit under done in the center when you take them out of the oven. They'll continue to cook/set as they cool. The center of these will be quite fudgy looking (like the center of a brownie). That is intentional to keep them rich and soft. They should not be liquid in the center after cooling. They will look like the center in the pictures - if you're expecting a fluffy sugar-cookie like center then these are not the bars for you.
- The only explanation I can think of is the type of pan matters: I normally use a metal 9x13-inch pan to bake these. Metal conducts heat more evenly - a glass pan takes longer to heat up causing things to over bake on the outside and be under done in the center. I hadn't thought about this because all my 9x13-inch pans are metal. So use a metal pan, not glass!
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 205kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 66mg | Potassium: 57mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 157IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 37mg | Iron: 1mg