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
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup potato chips crushed
- ¾ cup pretzels crushed
- ¾ cup chocolate chips
- ¾ cup Christmas M&Ms
- 2 tablespoons Christmas sprinkles
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.
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes per household.