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★ Why You'll Love this Recipe ★
A festive and easy holiday dessert to make, these candy cane cookie bars are a great addition to your holiday baking line-up.
Soft, Creamy & Minty
These peppermint-flavored cookie bars are not only adorable, they are creamy and delicious, too!
Easy to Make
Using store-bought sugar cookie mix or pre-made dough makes these super easy to make. Topped with a simple homemade frosting, and crushed candy canes, these bars come together quickly and are perfect for sharing with friends, family, and neighbors around the holidays.
★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
Here's everything you'll need to make these yummy peppermint cookie bars:
Cookie Bars
- Sugar cookie mix. Sugar cookies are so simple, you could make them from scratch but it saves a little time to just buy a mix. I've found store-bought cookies mixes are absolutely delicious.
- Butter. Salted. And you'll want to make sure it's softened to room temperature.
- Flour. This is needed to firm up the cookie dough just a bit. Enough to form firm yet still soft and chewy bars that don't fall apart.
- Egg. This also works to hold the cookie bars together.
Cream Frosting
- Butter. Salted and again, be sure it's softened.
- Peppermint extract. You don't need much, but this is what will give the buttercream frosting a nice flavor to complement the candy cane crunch.
- Red food coloring. This is optional. If you prefer while frosting, just leave this out.
- Powdered sugar. This sweetens the buttery frosting.
- Milk. This thins out the frosting so it's spreadable but still firms up after it sets.
- Candy canes. You can go with any flavor or color, but keep in mind, the original, classic peppermint is best with the peppermint extract.
★ How to Make this Recipe ★
These cookies bars are simple to make starting with a sugar cookie mix.
Here's a quick look at how to assemble everything:
- Combine cookie mix, butter, and egg to form dough.
- Press dough evenly into the pan. Bake then let cool.
- Combine frosting ingredients.
- Crush candy canes.
- Spread cookie with frosting.
- Top with candy canes. Cut into bars and Cut into bars..
That's it! Easy and super yummy and festive.
★ Tips & FAQs ★
Candy canes are typically available at most grocery stores during the holiday season. You can find them in the seasonal candy or baking aisle. You can also consider ordering them on amazon year-round.
A 9x13 baking pan or a standard baking sheet works for this recipe. Other wises will vary the bake time. If using a smaller pan, you'll get fewer and thicker bars. You'll need to bake a few minutes longer as well.
Yes, you can make Candy Cane Peppermint Cookie Bars in advance.
They can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for several days.
If you want to prepare them even earlier, you can freeze the bars for up to a month.
The dough can also be made in advance and refrigerated for up to 2 days before baking.
To crush candy canes to use as a topping, you can place them in a Ziploc bag and place on a cutting board. Cover with a dish towel then gently crush them with a rolling pin or pound them with a meat tenderizer. You want them to be small pieces, not a fine powder.
★ More Holiday Recipes ★
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Candy Cane Cookie Bars
Ingredients
COOKIE BAR
- 1 package Betty Crocker® Sugar Cookie mix 1 lb 1.5 oz
- ½ cup butter softened
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 egg
CREAM FROSTING
- ½ cup butter softened
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1 drop red food coloring (optional)
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoon milk
Topping
- ½ cup crushed peppermint candy canes
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚. Stir together cookie mix, butter, flour, and egg until dough forms. Transfer and press dough evenly into a greased or lined (with parchment paper) 9x13" baking dish. Bake for about 8-12 minutes or until firm and no longer look wet.Remove from oven, let cool completely then remove the block of cookies and place on a cutting board.
- Using an electric mixer, whip together butter, peppermint extract, and food coloring until fluffed.Slowly mix in powdered sugar and then add milk.Spread frosting onto cooled cookie and immediately top with crushed candy canes.Carefully cut into 2x3" rectangles.
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