21 Bar Cookie Recipes for Sharing or Scarfing Down

Bar cookies give you more bang for your buck. You can bake a bunch at a time—no juggling hot baking pans and constantly beeping timers—and there’s something pleasing about their grid-like nature. It certainly makes them easier to pack and store than round cookies!

So many beloved cookies can take the bar treatment, and we have all the best ones. You’ll find oaty, chocolate-studded, fruity, and nutty ones below. Take a look and soon you’ll be itching to bake a pan for yourself. Thank goodness they’re so dang shareable.

So ooey-gooey, these finger-lickin’ good bars are packed with chocolate chips, oats, and coconut. There’s actually no caramel making involved; this is a simple stir-together affair.

Contributor Molly Adams says, “Some people like to add caramel on top of the baked cookies, which would be amazing if you were enjoying the blondie version as the base of a sundae for dessert.”

Are lemon bars technically bar cookies? Who cares. No one can resist their sunny yellow sweet-tart curd and crumbly, rich shortbread base.

The brownies-versus-blondies debate comes to a screeching halt here. You make one batter, split it in the half, and fold chocolate into one half. Then perform said marbling. The photographer of the image above shared his marble blondies with friends, and they told him they were the most delicious dessert they’ve ever eaten. Proof enough for me!

Senior Editor Sara Bir says, “The original recipe from Susan Buckalew (as well as most other recipes online) calls for corn syrup. I use honey because it adds more flavor, but if you prefer, use corn syrup. The texture will be the same either way.”

Monster cookies are loaded with peanut butter, chocolate chips, and M&Ms. I rarely make these because they add up to major cookie frenzies in my house. Blink and they’ll vanish.

Contributor Molly Allen says, “The key to achieving the gooey, chewy texture of these butterscotch squares is to avoid overbaking them. The original recipe notes baking the bars for 15 to 20 minutes. I found 18 minutes to be the sweet spot to avoid overbaking and producing the best texture.”

Apple pie fit for a crowd with no plates or forks. No pastry skills necessary; just make the pat-in-the-pan crust, which happens to double as a crumble topping.

Contributor Mark Beahm says, “Be sure to line the pan with parchment. This way you can lift the bars from the pan and slice them with a chef’s knife on a cutting board.”

Contributor Carrie Havranek says, “These keep well covered in the fridge for up to five days. However, they also freeze well, frosted or unfrosted. Just wrap them individually in wax paper and then freeze in a container or zip-top bag.”

Classic campfire s’mores never pan out the way you’d like. They crumble, collapse, and defy to deliver the perfect mouthful. Not so these uber-chewy bars, which sub the graham crackers with Golden Grahams cereal.

Chess pie is a Southern classic. Adapting the custardy pie to bar form makes the dessert handheld and more achievable, and the raspberries flat-out make them prettier.

Reconfiguring pecan pie to a horizontal orientation means more pecans per bite. The crust doesn’t get as soggy. Are you sold yet?

Seven-layer magic bars collide with kitchen sink cookies, and the fallout is incredible.

Let’s face it: granola bars are bar cookies that we pretend are healthy. And maybe they are. You choose the dried fruits and nuts. These are guaranteed to best anything you can get at the store.

Chocolate chip cookies are great and everything, but they enter blondie territory when you bake them as bars. They’re also sliiightly like a cookie cake. I make these when I want a cookie and can’t rally to make drop cookies.

Clearly these not pancakes. The deal with the name: These are a British treat made with oats and golden syrup. They’re chewy and full of burly bits like dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds (or whatever you feel like swapping them for). Need to fill a care package? Flapjacks are the perfect choice.

A general rule of thumb is a top layer of cream cheese frosting doubles a treat’s curb appeal. These are solidly in cookie territory, though, not cake. We lovers of gingerbread know that its allure should never be limited to December, so bake these with abandon whenever you have an inkling for warm molasses notes and enticing aromatic spices.

Some folks know these retro delights as Chinese chews, though we here at Simply Recipes can’t figure out the origins of that name; absolutely nothing points to any association with China. They are super chewy and nutty and fruity and completely worth baking and sharing.

Add a lot of almond extract to a pan of blondies and here’s what you get. Take a moment to enjoy them with coffee and bask in the chewy edges, soft middles, and wallop of almond essence.

Contributor Mark Beahm says, “Canned pumpkin purée saves so much time compared to homemade, and in my experience, works much better for baking. Make sure you’re buying 100% pure pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling, which has sugar, spices, and other ingredients added.”