Bar cookies are easy to make and so efficient. You don't have to individually shape each cookie, and each recipe makes a large amount. These are my favorite bar cookie recipes. From simple shortbread to indulgent layered bars, these recipes are the ones I make when feeding a group of people or preparing for the holidays. They span the range of simple (Cookie Brittle) to indulgent (Oatmeal Carmelitas), and include flavors that range from peanut butter to lemon and fruit. Enjoy these easy recipes!
1. Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bars
Linda Larsen
A simple peanut butter bar is covered with a mixture of melted chocolate chips, peanut butter, and crisp rice flake cereal. This is a classic cookie recipe that is easy to make. Because it's baked in a jelly roll pan it makes a large batch.
2. Oatmeal Carmelitas
Linda Larsen
This classic bar cookie recipe is simply spectacular. I've improved upon the original recipe by adding more chocolate chips and a thicker oatmeal base and topping. You can use caramel ice cream topping mixed with a little flour for the caramel layer, but please, try it with real caramels at least once in your life!
3. Treasure Chest Bars
Linda Larsen
4. Butter Pecan Cookies
Linda Larsen
In these easy cookies, a rich shortbread layer is covered with homemade caramel, pecans, and milk chocolate chips. They taste like Turtle Candies, but are a lot easier to make!
5. Lemon Crumble Bars
Linda Larsen
This is one of my favorite bar cookie recipes. A creamy and velvety tart lemon filling is sandwiched between two layers of crumbly oatmeal and brown sugar cookie. It's the perfect addition to a cookie tray.
6. Cookie Brittle
Linda Larsen
This is an old recipe from the 1970s. I like it because it transforms chocolate chip cookies into a crisp shortbread. It's quick and easy to make and children love it.
7. Crunchy Oatmeal Brownies
Linda Larsen
A brown sugar-oatmeal crust forms the bottom and top layers of this delicious bar cookie recipe. And the middle is made of a creamy and fudgy brownie. What more could you want?
8. Nut Lover's Brownies
Linda Larsen
This rich brownie has a wonderful creamy and crunchy nut layer baked on top. You can use any chopped nut in this easy and decadent recipe. Other good combinations include pecans and cashews, or walnuts and filberts.
9. Special Kay Bars
Linda Larsen
I love this rich and sweet bar cookie - and so do my husband's students! I make them once a week and he takes them to school: and they're gone in about 15 minutes. The sweetness of the cookie is tempered by the rich and smooth peanut butter. Yum.
10. Crunchy Chocolate Brownie Bars
Linda Larsen
This indulgent recipe uses brownie mix(es), and ready to spread chocolate frosting, but the end product is so rich and delicious your guests will never guess you took shortcuts. The peanut butter and chocolate topping and the frosting both melt into the brownie, making this one of the best bar cookie recipes ever.
