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SANTA’S COOKIE BARS
I love a good reason to make a totally festive Holiday treat. Like these peanut butter oatmeal cookie bars that just happen to be Santa’s favorite cookie bar… or so I’ve been told 🙂
Loaded with Christmas mix peanut butter m&m’s, chocolate chips, peanut butter, oats, and Christmas red & green sprinkles.
This recipe is based off of one of the most popular recipes on the blog, these oatmeal chocolate chip peanut butter bars. Everyone loves them so I knew I wanted to create a Christmas version of them.
One of my favorite things to do at Christmas time is to wander the seasonal candy aisles at Target. All the red and green candies, Christmas mix sprinkles, Santa shaped chocolates. It’s so fun!
INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO MAKE SANTA’S COOKIE BARS
Of course you will need some pantry staple baking ingredients like all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, granulated sugar, brown sugar. The usual baking suspects.
But there are few ingredients that make these bars extra special.
- Butter – Don’t try and substitute with anything else. I always use salted butter, but use whichever you prefer.
- Oats – I have found that regular, old-fashioned oats are the best to use in these bars. The quick oats are finer and tend to lead to a drier cookie bar.
- Peanut Butter – Use creamy peanut butter and do not use natural peanut butter. It will make these cookie bars so dry and crumbly.
- Egg + Egg Yolk – The extra egg yolk is so important so don’t skip it. It provides more fat and moisture.
- Christmas M&M’s – I love to use the peanut butter m&m’s but if you can’t find them in the red and green Christmas mix then just use plain M&M’s.
- Christmas Sprinkles – Any kind you want!
MY TIPS FOR MAKING SANTA’S COOKIES RECIPE
- Mini chocolate chips are the preferred ingredient for the chocolate. They are much smaller which pairs well with all the other add-ins in these cookie bars.
- DO NOT overcook these bars. If you do, they will be very dry. They should be pale when you take them out of the oven and the edges only should be very lightly golden brown.
- It’s important to let them cool in the pan for 20-30 minutes so they will come together and make it easier to cut them.
- You can use quick oats in this recipe but note that the finer, ground up texture of quick oats tends to dry out baked goods. So as long as you’re eating these the same day they’re made then you won’t have to worry about it.
- Be sure and mix up a batch of these for Christmas Eve and leave them out for Santa!
TRY THESE OTHER SANTA COOKIE RECIPES
- Christmas Goody Bars
- Santa Claus Cookies
- One Giant Santa Cookie
- Christmas Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Peppermint Bark Pretzel Bites
Santa's Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter softened
- 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1 cup Christmas mix peanut butter m&m's
- 3 tablespoons Christmas sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking pan and set aside. Or you can line with parchment paper or foil, and use the overhang to lift the bars out so they're easier to slice.
- In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and oats. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and sugar until fluffy looking and light in color. About 2 minutes.
- Add in the vanilla, egg and egg yolk. Blend together and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix just until combined. Add chocolate chips and the peant butter m&m's and blend together until mixed in.
- Press the batter into the prepared pan. Top with the sprinkles and gently press them onto the dough. * I reserve some of the chocolate chips and m&m's and press those on top of the dough as well (before baking). This gives the bars a pretty presentation.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes or until lightly browned on the edges. The bars will still look pale and slightly underdone in the middle. That's ok. Don't over bake or the bars will be dry!
- Let the bars cool in the baking pan for 20-30 minutes. Cut into squares and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
I'd love to see it! You can share it with me on @togetherasfamilyblog and follow on Pinterest @together-as-family-blog-recipes or Facebook @togetherasfamilyblog for more!
These look delicious! Thank you for sharing!
This recipe was very easy. I made a variation. I could not find the peanut butter m&m’s so I chopped 1/2 cup of pecans and 1/2 cup walnuts. It turned out really good
How long can you store before eating? Looking to make ahead for the holidays.
They only stay good covered at room temperature for 2-3 days. Any longer and they tend to dry out because of the peanut butter and oats. I don’t freeze hardly anything so I don’t have experience freezing these but I *think* they would freeze fine. Let them thaw or warm a piece up in the microwave for a few seconds.
These look cute but were a little busy with all of the oats, pb, and m&m’s. The cook time was WAY longer for me. I even bumped my oven temp up to 360 after 20 mins of not even close to being done. Mine took nearly 45 mins to cook. I’m sure my oven is calibrated properly. I think the kids will love them but may be a little rich for adults.
They look delicious, but can I leave the oats out?
Yes, that should be fine.
Can I make these without oats?
Yes, that should work fine. I am sure my reply is too late, I apologize!
Can I mix this by hand ? I don’t have an electric mixer.
Yes that will work fine. Sorry my reply is probably too late!
I am looking forward to trying this recipe. However, I jumped to recipe and when I clicked to print it told me there was q page. Imagine my consternation when it printed out 20 pages, complete with 8 full-page pictures all in living color! And that doesn’t include the all the ads that also printed.
That’s not good! I just tried it and it printed out 1 page of the recipe only. It sounds like maybe something that you pressed perhaps on your computer or something. You should be pressing the ‘print’ text that you will find in the recipe box underneath the small picture there.
Could I use steel cut oats?
I prefer regular oats in this recipe but yes you can try steel cut oats. May change the texture a bit. Try and find the quick cook steel cut oats and that would be better than the regular steel cut oats.
Do you have nutrtional information on these bars? They are delicious and my family & friends love them. V
I don’t right now. I am currently working my way through all the recipes on my site to add the nutrition information. Takes a long time cause it’s just me 🙂 In the meantime, there are lots of free options online where you can input ingredients and then it will tell you.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have good luck with these. I felt like they were undercooked but was nervous to cook them past 16 minutes. Even the edge pieces didn’t have a “cooked” texture even though they were slightly browned. They are certainly packed with chocolate and very thick, which I can appreciate but I ended up throwing away half as I was nervous about eating them undercooked.
I had the same issues. Scared to cook longer and they seem uncooked.
I made these for my Christmas events the next 2 days and OMG they are DELICIOUS. I could do without the oats as I am not an oatmeal fan but other than that I am so happy I made them. And pretty impressed at how great they were being scratch made. I did have to cook longer than the 14 mins. Mine took closer to 25 min.
I made these once before the holidays and being a beginner, a mom, and distracted, cooked them too long and they were very dry as you had mentioned. I made them today and used reeses pieces instead of m&ms. I cooked them for 16 minutes. I hope they turn out because they smell like heaven! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe!
These bars are fabulous. I have made them several times. I like to match the peanut butter m&m’s and sprinkles to different holidays or a birthday celebration.
These are super yummy! I baked them for about 18 minutes in my oven and they were perfect!
Tased delicious…. but completely fell apart and didn’t stay together 🙁
Make sure you are letting them cool for at least an hour as the recipe calls for. You should take them out when they’re still slightly underdone but as they sit and cool for an hour they will firm up and come together. Usually they fall apart if you’re trying to cut them too early.
Just made these and the family loves them. I am having trouble with the middle not being cooked. When you say baking pan, is it metal or glass? I did use the parchment paper too, maybe that was a factor?
I realize my reply is so late…. I am sorry. I always use these USA Bakeware pans I get on Amazon. Here is the link to one ( https://www.amazon.com/USA-Pan-Bakeware-Rectangular-Aluminized/dp/B0029JOC6I/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=usa+bakeware+pans&qid=1613852241&sr=8-4 ). It’s not affiliate or sponsored or anything like that. I just love these pans and it’s the only kind I own and bake with.
I increased the peanut butter to 1/2 cup and used quick oats and baked 37 minutes. came out perfectly.
I love to hear how you made the recipe your own! Thank you for your comment!
These turned out great. I couldn’t find peanut butter M&M’s, so I used Christmas M&M’s instead.
Love the idea of using Christmas m&ms!
We made these tonight for Santa. They are SO good. Thank you!
You’re so welcome! Thank you for your comment!
My son can’t have peanut butter. Would using almond butter dry the cookie bar out?
I think almond would work with the bars! I’ve never tried it myself but I hope it is a success!
sweet. but yummy. I love an undercooked chocolate chip cookies. imma try to freeze them and see how they react. thanks!
used mini m&ms as it seems Christmas pb ones are non existent 🤣