I’m back with another cookie recipe in bar form, and I’m here to tell you these are sooooo good. I kept coming back to these and ended up eating half he try myself! I love cookie bar recipes because it eliminates the time and energy it takes the scoop and roll cookies. This recipe also requires no chill time, so you mix the ingredients and get it straight into the oven! They are packed with chocolate chips, M&Ms and sprinkles, basically they are heaven in cookie bar form!
RECIPE TIPS:
- Sprinkles: I feel like I needed to dedicate a section here to sprinkles because there are so many different varieties and not all of them will work in this cookie. For this recipe I used a mixture of confetti quins and classic jimmies, but in red white & blue. For these cookies do not use nonpareils. They’re small and add a great crunch but the color will bleed if you mix them into any sort of batter. If you would like to make a recipe using nonpareils, try these Christmas Kiss Cookies!
- Baking pan: I HIGHLY suggest you use a metal baking pan. Metal pans cook baked goods more evenly than a glass pan and are super easy to transport the bars in (the one I tagged even has a lid so it’s super easy for transport!)
- Frosting: These cookie bars are delicious without the frosting so if you don’t have the time or ingredients, no worries! I am a total frosting fanatic and will put it on anything and everything, plus it makes them so festive!
- Chocolate chips: For this recipe I prefer to use milk chocolate or semi-sweet, but you can use whatever is in your pantry!
- How to make them soft and chewy: Like most of my cookie recipes, these bars are soft and chewy. In order to make these they stay soft make sure you don’t skip the corn starch in the recipe! Corn starch helps to create a really tender cookie and that’s what we want! You also want to pay close attention to your baking time. I baked mine for 24 minutes on the dot. The top and outside edge will be nice and golden brown but the inside will seem under baked. Pull them from the oven and let them completely cool in the pan. This will produce the most delicious soft and chewy cookie bars 🙂
You all know I love an easy baked good and one of my favorite ways to do that is by baking cookies in a 9×13 pan. They are crispy on the edges and chewy on the inside, and topped with that sweet vanilla frosting that makes the perfect bites. Seriously, these are a recipe you’re going to want to try! 🙂
Red, White & Blue Cookie Bars
These cookie bars are festive, so easy to make and the perfect chocolate chip cookie bite! They are soft on the inside and crispy on the edges, and packed with chocolate chips, M&Ms and sprinkles!
Ingredients
For the cookie bars:
- ¾ cup salted butter melted
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup red white & blue M&Ms
- ½ cup red white & blue sprinkles
- ¾ cup milk chocolate chips
For the frosting:
- ¾ cup salted butter room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3-5 tbsp heavy cream or milk room temperature
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
For the cookie bars:
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a metal 9×13 pan and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the melted butter, brown and granulated sugar. Mix until combined. Add in vanilla and eggs, and mix until incorporated.
- While the mixer is on low add in the flour, salt, corn starch and baking soda. Mix until just combined. Use a spatula to fold in the M&Ms, chocolate chips and sprinkles. Scoop batter into the prepared pan and use a spatula to make sure the dough is evenly spread out. Bake or 22-25 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.
For the frosting:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer beat together the butter and powdered sugar for 2-3 minutes until combined. Add in the vanilla, salt and 2 tablespoons of heavy cream and beat until smooth. Add in additional heavy cream to get the consistency you prefer. Once smooth, divide the frosting into 3 separate bowls. Add in 1-2 drops of coloring in two of the bowls, one red and one blue, and leave the third white. Prepare a piping bag with a tip (I used a large Wilton #8B) and pipe alternating colors are the edges. Top with additional sprinkles and slice and serve!
So good, Made for our Memorial Day get together Everyone loved them.
Made these for a 4th of July party. Everything was great but I believe the frosting instructions should be “unsalted” butter rather than salted. I made the frosting with salted butter the first go around and the combination of salted butter and additional salt ruined the frosting. Luckily I had enough unsalted butter ready and was able to copy cat the recipe using unsalted butter and came out fantastic. If it wasn’t for that one issue I would have given 5 stars.