These Peppermint Bark Cookies & Cream Bars will save you time in the kitchen! Sugar cookie bars are a great option for holiday baking because they save you time by not cutting and frosting individual cookies! These bars are soft and thick with delicious homemade frosting. The crushed chocolate cookies and candy canes make them extra festive.
You can also slice sugar cookie bars into small, bite-sized pieces for cookie trays or leave them a traditional size if serving for dessert.
Don’t forget to leave out a glass of milk and a plate of these sugar cookie bars for Santa!
Looking for more holiday cookie ideas? Don’t miss my buttery Peppermint Bark Cream Cheese Spritz, melt-in-your-mouth Vanilla Ricotta Cookies, easy Cream Cheese Snickerdoodles and Ice Cream Kolacky cookies— which have ice cream baked into the dough.
Peppermint Bark Cookies and Cream Bars
- 20 minutes
- 18 minutes
- 38 minutes
- 24 bars
Ingredients
Cookies:
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract (see notes)
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 candy canes, crushed
20 chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed
Frosting:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1 pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract, see notes
1/4 cup milk, or whipping cream
Instructions
For the Cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 baking dish (or use parchment paper); set aside.
- In the bowl of your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar for 2 minutes.
- Add the eggs, vanilla and almond extract.
- In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add to wet ingredients, one spoonful at a time until incorporated. Dough will form and pull away from the sides of the mixer bowl when ready.
- Drop by heaping tablespoons onto a greased baking dish, and press down with your fingers to flatten evenly.
- Bake for 20 minutes until golden in color. Remove and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Frosting:
- In the bowl of your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter for 2 minutes. Slowly add powdered sugar, salt and extract.
- Add milk or cream to thin the frosting to the desired consistency. You may not need to add all the milk. Drizzle the milk in slowly while mixing until it is a soft consistency, easy enough to spread.
- Spread frosting over cooled sugar cookie bars.
- Decorate with crushed chocolate cookies and candy canes.
Notes
- For the cookie bars, you can omit the almond extract. Substitute with vanilla if desired.
- For the frosting, vanilla extract will give a slight tint to the frosting, so use clear vanilla if you want a brighter white frosting.
