381 cookie bar recipes

Rich 'n' creamy brownie bars: fudgy pecan brownies topped with a cheesecake-style cream cheese layer. The best of both desserts, sliced into 48 potluck-ready bars.

Layered dessert bars with shortbread crust, amaretto-condensed milk filling, topped with chocolate chips, coconut, and almonds. Rich, gooey, and indulgent.

Prune coconut bars with a soft prune-orange filling between a crunchy oat, whole wheat, and coconut crust. No refined sugar, no eggs, and naturally sweet.

Peanut butter chocolate layer bars with a peanut butter Oreo crust, chopped peanuts, chocolate chips, and coconut drizzled with sweetened condensed milk.

These raspberry almond bars are not only good during Christmas...

Low-fat apricot cardamom bars with apricot nectar, finely snipped dried apricots, and applesauce in the batter, finished with an apricot icing drizzle. Fragrant and easy.

Three-layer no-bake bars with a cocoa-coconut-almond base, cherry buttercream filling studded with maraschino cherries, and a semi-sweet chocolate drizzle on top.

These rich chocolate-toffee bars from Mary Lueke of Menasha were our top pick in the bar category.

Gooey butter pecan bars layered with melted marshmallows, chocolate chips, and coconut on a cake mix crust. A 5-minute prep, no-fuss dessert bar that disappears at every potluck and bake sale.

Peanut butter and fudge filled bars with an oat cookie crust, a gooey chocolate-peanut butter fudge layer, and a crumbly oat topping. Three layers of chocolate-peanut butter goodness in every bite.

Five layer bars with a cocoa graham cracker crust, sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, raisins, and chopped nuts. No mixing bowl needed, just layer and bake.

Maple walnut bars with raisins, melted butter, and just 7 ingredients mixed in one bowl. Chewy, nutty cookie bars baked in an 8-inch pan and cut into squares.

No-bake peanut butter Nanaimo bars with a chocolate coconut crumb base, creamy peanut butter custard filling, and glossy semisweet chocolate topping. A Canadian classic with a twist.

Fruit bar dough: a chill-and-rest whole wheat cookie dough that pairs with any fruit filling. The hearty, wheat-germ-boosted base for homemade fruit-filled bar cookies.

Chocolate caramel nut bars with a German chocolate cake-mix crust, melted caramel middle, and chopped walnuts and chocolate chips. A potluck-ready bar cookie you can shortcut with a boxed mix.

Two-layer apricot bars with a buttery shortbread base and a chewy brown sugar-apricot-nut topping, rolled in powdered sugar. Makes 75 bite-sized bars from one pan.