82 bar cookie recipes

Five-ingredient magic bars with a soda cracker base, coconut, chocolate chips, nuts, and sweetened condensed milk. No mixing bowl needed. Ready in 30 minutes.

Chocolate walnut bar cookies cut into neat triangles with a smooth vanilla butter frosting. Fudgy, nutty, and cute enough for a cookie tray or bake sale.

Raisin Puree is the basis for the dough of this rich-tasting, chewy bar. The combination of orange and chocolate is a classic favorite. We considered cutting the amount of chocolate in the recipe, thereby cut ting the fat, but in the end we agreed that the extra richness is worth the extra grams of fat.

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.

Gold medal caramel bars layer a chocolate cake mix base with caramel topping and chocolate chips, then crumbled cake mix streusel. Four-ingredient potluck bars for the cookie swap.

Dutch apple crumb bars stack a shortbread crust, apple-date filling, and cinnamon oat crumble into sliceable bars. Classic streusel topping over tender baked apples with a chewy date kick.

Turtle bars with shortbread crust, pecan halves, brown sugar caramel, and a smooth chocolate top. The classic candy-store flavor in a 24-bar pan.

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

Banana monkey bars: a one-bowl banana bread baked thin into chewy bars, studded with walnuts and finished with a chocolate sugar drizzle. Lunchbox sweet, ready in under an hour.

No-bake peanut butter and fudge bars with crispy rice cereal layers sandwiching a rich chocolate fudge center. Double boiler or microwave method included.

Golden coconut bars studded with walnuts and raisins, lightly sweetened with maple flavoring. Made with egg substitute for a lighter treat that bakes in 20 minutes.

Fudgy chocolate espresso bars with cocoa, instant espresso, and chopped pecans, topped with a whipped chocolate chip frosting. Rich, dense, and deeply caffeinated.

Peanut butter oat bars topped with melted chocolate chips. A one-bowl, mix-and-spread recipe with chewy oats, brown sugar, and a rich chocolate or chocolate-peanut butter frosting.

A Weight Watchers-friendly oatmeal cookie made with banana, chunky peanut butter, raisins, and cinnamon. No added sugar, low-fat, and diabetic-friendly. Makes 2 big soft cookies in 15 minutes.

Heath bar mocha cheesecake: a coffee-spiked cream cheese filling on a chocolate cookie crust loaded with toffee bits, crowned with chocolate ganache and more crushed Heath bars. Coffee, toffee, and chocolate in one slice.

Giant chocolate chip cookies made with hand-chopped milk chocolate bars instead of chips. Flattened to saucer size and baked until barely set for a chewy, gooey center.