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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.
Yes, you could make a big batch of cookies, but what about making cookie bars instead? You don’t have to scoop and form the dough into balls – just spread it in a pan and bake and slice. This time of year, it’s nice to make things a little easier, and these holiday cookie bars are just the way to do it.
The Best Christmas Bars with M&Ms
These are the best Christmas blondies decorated with M&Ms and sprinkles. They taste like cookies with a soft and chewy texture but are made into bars instead. And you know what? You can make them all year round – just switch up the candy and sprinkles to match the holiday or event!
But since it’s the holiday season, we’re calling these Christmas M&M cookie bars, and you will love them. They’re an excellent way to change up a traditional cookie platter! Christmas cookie recipes get all the attention this time of year, so I figured why not switch things up and give the Christmas cookie bar recipes some love? Sounds like a great idea to me!
How to make Christmas Cookie Bars Video
Ingredients You need
- Butter: I always use unsalted butter – make sure it’s softened
- Sugar: My blondies are FULL of brown sugar – pack it in the measuring cup
- Eggs, Vanilla extract, Salt, All-Purpose Flour: typical ingredients for blondies
- Baking Powder: this is different than my normal cookie bars but it adds a softens along with the chewiness from the eggs
- Christmas M&Ms: use other colors for any holiday
- Christmas sprinkles – jimmies work best
These blondies are SO east to whip up and they stay soft for days – and that butter and brown sugar make them almost toffee-tasting.
How to Make the Best Bar Cookies for Christmas
1. Preparing the pan: Line a 9×13” baking pan with foil and coat it well with cooking spray. This will make it easy to remove the bars once they’ve cooled.
2. Wet Ingredients: Cream the butter with the brown sugar with a mixer. Once combined, it will be crumbly, but when you add the eggs and vanilla, it will be smooth after you mix it.
3. Dry Ingredients: Add the salt, baking powder, and flour and mix until combined. Stir in the M&Ms and sprinkles.
4. Placing in Pan: The dough will be wet at this stage, so scoop it into the prepared pan. Spray your hands with cooking spray to make it easy to spread the dough into an even layer. Top the dough with more M&Ms and sprinkles.
5. Bake: Bake the bars at 350°F for 22 to 25 minutes or until they start to turn golden. It’s best if they are a little underbaked when you take them out because they will continue to bake in the pan as they cool.
6. Storing: Store them in an airtight container for up to a week or freeze for up to a month.
Recipe Tips
Holiday Colors: We love these cookie bars during the holidays, but you can make them for any holiday or event and just switch up the M&Ms and sprinkles. Red and white for Valentine’s Day, pastels for Easter, your favorite sports team colors, brown and orange for Halloween… the possibilities are endless.
Measuring: When you measure the flour, be sure to use the spoon and method for the best results. This will ensure you get the right amount – so don’t scoop the flour out of the package or pack it into the measuring cup.
Storing Tip: Once your cookie bars are thoroughly cooled, keep them in an airtight container. This will prevent them from drying out and hardening. They will keep for up to a week at room temperature, or you can freeze them for up to a month.
Once you try these M&M cookie bars, you’ll want to make them again and again! They are perfect for Christmas or anytime you’re craving a delicious cookie bar treat. Enjoy!
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Christmas Cookie Bars Recipe
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 9×13” 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.
Recipe 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 9×13-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 9×13-inch pans are metal. So use a metal pan, not glass!
Recipe Nutrition
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.
I used 17×15 cookie sheets to make this and just tripled the recipe. It worked out great.
Are you using dark or light brown sugar?
I use light brown sugar but either will work.
The first time I made these in an aluminum pan, cooked for 22 minutes, a little undercooked, let set but I think I undercooked too much. Oh well. Tried again in glass plan (I know metal is best) but checked back at 22 minutes & decided to keep them in a little longer. I took them out 8 minutes later, let them set & they turned out AMAZING!!!!!
I made the bars for a party today. Cooked them a metal pan for about 22 min. They cooked and are dry as opposed to gooey. Not much flavor to them. They look festive but kind of disappointed at the texture. The recipe said the batter would be wet when spreading in the pan. I’m not understanding this as there are only 2 eggs and the vanilla for liquid so my batter wasn’t wet at all. Would like to know others thoughts and or tips. Don’t think I’ll make again.
Did you use the full amount of butter and brown sugar? What kind of butter did you use?
I made these cookies yesterday. I used a foil baking pan and they did not bake in the middle. Just around the edges.
I have never tested these in a foil baking pan – I assume that is the culprit. I recommend using metal pan for this recipe. Foil pans don’t conduct heat properly and will bake unevenly.
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