Santa’s Trash Cookie Bars
Take all those little bits of ingredients and throw ’em in one big cookie! Santa’s Trash Cookie Bars are loaded with sweet & salty goodness!
Why We Love Santa’s Trash Cookie Bars
- Cookie bars are easy to serve up in large quantities! All you do is cut them into the perfect size pieces for your needs – large bars for cookie plates or little squares for parties.
- You get a bite of salty, sweet, chewy, crunchy, and chocolatey in every bite of these delicious cookie bars.
- Fun festive colors make this dessert a seasonal favorite thanks to the sprinkles and M&Ms. You can even change them out for different holidays or to match your team’s colors.
- Everyone loves cookie bars, they are like the perfect mix of a blondie and a cookie!
Ingredients You’ll Need to Make Santa’s Trash Cookie Bars
COOKIE DOUGH: You will be making a basic vanilla cookie bar dough as the base for this dessert.
PRETZELS: I like to put crushed pretzels into the dough and use whole pretzels twists on top. Don’t crush them too much (like with a food processor), you don’t want to end up with a bunch of pretzel dust.
POTATO CHIPS: Crushed chips bring that salty flavor and crunchy texture. I like wavy chips since they hold up better in the cookie and keep their crunch, but regular potato chips would work in a pinch.
CANDIES: Chocolate chips, holiday sprinkles, M&M candies are my preferred sweets for these bars… but really you can use any other add-ins you want to throw in the bowl to round out the holiday theme and flavors. You can even just use regular M&Ms and rainbow sprinkles for everyday Trash Cookie Bars.
How to Make Cookie Bars for Christmas
Jump to RecipeSTEP 1 Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9-inch x 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper or foil. In a medium bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the wet ingredients. Add the dry to the wet and mix until combined. Then fold in the add-ins.
STEP 2 Spread the cookie bar dough into the prepared baking pan. Then sprinkle more potato chips, pretzels, M&Ms, chocolate chips, and sprinkles on top.
STEP 3 Bake the bars for 22-25 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Let them cool completely on a wire rack. Use the parchment paper to life the bar sheet from the pan and then cut the cookie into squares.
Tips & Tricks
- Keep some of the add-ins to sprinkle on top before you pop the pan into the oven. It’s nice to know what you’re eating, and makes the cookie bars look more festive.
- You can use cookie cutters if you want even more festive pieces. Just press the cookie cutters into the cooled whole cookie rectangle. You can cut the scraps into bite-sized pieces so nothing goes to waste.
- Have fun with the chocolate! You can use dark chocolate chips, white chocolate, semi-sweet, or milk chocolate. Chopped up peanut butter cups or rolos would be delicious too.
- These cookie bars will keep for 3 days on the counter in an airtight container. You can also freeze them for up to 6 months. Simply wrap them in plastic wrap or tin foil and pop them into a gallon-size freezer food storage bag. Then thaw overnight in the fridge before eating.
Santa’s Trash Cookie Bars FAQ
What is a bar cookie?
A cookie bar is a combination between a soft blondie and a cookie, it bakes up in a large pan and has a soft and chewy texture that is denser than cake but softer than a cookie.
How to cut cookie bars?
I always line my baking pan with parchment paper all the way up the sides to make this easier. Then I remove the entire brick of the cookie bar from the pan and let it completely cool. Then take a very sharp knife and cut it into pieces evenly, if I am only making a regular serving size then they can stay in pieces about the palm of your hand or a deck of cards. If you’re going to be serving a larger crowd or making platters of cookies I would suggest cutting them down into quarters so you have small bite-size pieces to share easily.
Other Recipes You May like
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
- Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies
- Chocolate Andes Mint Cookies
- Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies
- No Bake Cornflake Cookies
Santa’s Trash Cookie Bars
Ingredients
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9-inch × 13-inch cake pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer or (in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment), cream together the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition for about 10 seconds.
- Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix just until combined. Fold in the chips, crushed pretzels, chocolate chips, M&M's, and most of the sprinkles.
- Spread the cookie dough out evenly in the cake pan and top with extra M&M’s, chocolate chips, chips, pretzels, and the remaining sprinkles.
- Bake the cookie bars for 22 to 25 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack.
- Allow the bars to cool for at least 1 hour in the pan before removing and slicing them into squares.