Bar Recipes

Get our best recipes for bar cookies, including blondies, brownies, crumble bars and more.

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Lemon Bars

Is it any surprise that the Barefoot Contessa's lemon bar recipe is just a bit sweeter and richer than the average?

Get the Recipe: Lemon Bars

Chocolate-Coconut Bars

Inspired by a much-loved chocolate-coconut candy bar, these are the perfect spur-of-the-moment treats for a bake sale.

Get the Recipe: Bake Sale Chocolate-Coconut Bars

Banana Bread Bars With Cream Cheese Frosting

These are the super-dense, moist, compact version of banana bread. The brown butter makes all the difference in this recipe.

Get the Recipe: Banana Bread Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Chewy, Salty Peanutty Caramel Brownies

These brownies were inspired by fantastic chocolate-covered salted caramels sold at Chelsea Market in New York City — and salted caramel is all the rage these days. Mixed with crunchy peanuts, these brownies taste like upscale homemade candy bars.

Get the Recipe: Chewy, Salty Peanutty Caramel Brownies

Grown-Up Apricot Newtons

These tart-like bars are a much-improved version of the original sandwich cookies. The apricots are plumped and pureed for a richer fruit flavor, and the flecks of green pistachio throughout add crunch and color.

Get the Recipe: Grown-Up Apricot Newtons

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

These bars are a sweeter, gooey-er, more lunchbox-friendly version of the classic sandwich. They'll hold up better and much longer — without the risk of soggy bread and unwanted crusts.

Get the Recipe: Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

Platinum Blondies

Brownie who? These blondies will turn heads with sweet white chocolate, salty macadamia nuts and rich shredded coconut. Like any true blonde, these all-white bars have no dark roots to hide.

Get the Recipe: Platinum Blondies

Apple Crumble Bars

Dried apples make these fruity bars easy to enjoy any time of the year — or any time of the day. They're as delicious for breakfast as they are topped with ice cream for dessert. These are great for bake sales too.

Get the Recipe: Apple Crumble Bars

Cocoa Brownies

Alton Brown's brownie recipe calls for more than a cup of cocoa, which makes them dense and dark.

Get the Recipe: Cocoa Brownies

Maple Walnut Shortbread Bars

The addition of maple into these shortbreads elevates them from casual cookie to dinner-party dessert.

Get the Recipe: Maple Walnut Shortbread Bars

Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Blondies

Tired of brownies? Try blondies! These little squares are great on their own; eaten with ice cream they are simply sinful.

Get the Recipe: Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Blondies

Thick and Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

A blondie-lover's dream, these bars are moist, dense and chewy. Perfect for a bake sale or as a take-a-long. They can also be cut into 1-inch bites for a large party.

Get the Recipe: Thick and Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

Oatmeal Carmelitas

With layers of oatmeal sandwich caramel, chocolate and pecans, these carmelitas are as sweet as the story behind them. (Click through to the recipe to read about them.)

Get the Recipe: Oatmeal Carmelitas

Peanut Butter Crispy Bars

With a milk chocolate and peanut butter center and a dark chocolate icing glaze on top, these crispy bars will make you want to celebrate.

Get the Recipe: Peanut Butter Crispy Bars

Lemon Bars

Tart, sweet and buttery all at once: The lemon bar is a timeless Southern classic.

Get the Recipe: Lemon Bars

Pecan Bars

Turn pecan pie into a hand-held (and rum-splashed) treat with Aida's pie-inspired bar cookies.

Get the Recipe: Pecan Bars

Orange and Nut Squares

Giada De Laurentiis uses store-bought cookie dough to quickly roll out these orange and nut bars. 

Get the Recipe: Orange and Nut Squares

Espresso Brownies

Giada combines coffee and dessert for her favorite brownie recipe, which is coated in an espresso glaze.

Get the Recipe: Espresso Brownies

Cookies and Cream Fudge Brownies

The dark chocolate cookie and cream frosting of crumbled oreos add delightful crunch and sweetness to this amazing brownie recipe.

Get the Recipe: Cookies and Cream Fudge Brownies

Blondies

Blond is better as far as these bars are concerned. Bobby Flay uses toffee and milk chocolate chips to add depth to each bite. 

Get the Recipe: Blondies

Everyday Brownies

Nigella's brownies, though extremely adaptable and easy to whip up in a pinch, are deeply chocolatey and dense.

Get the Recipe: Everyday Brownies

Bacon and Pecan Brownies

Michael Symon works his magic again by incorporating an unexpected ingredient (bacon!) into his fudge-like brownie recipe.

Get the Recipe: Bacon and Pecan Brownies

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

Rich chocolate brownie batter is topped with sweet-and-salty chocolate chip cookie dough and a thick chocolate glaze. Talk about a sugar rush.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

Rhubarb Crumble Bars

Tart rhubarb is balanced by all the sweetness of this bar's dough and its deliciously caramel almond-oat topping.

Get the Recipe: Rhubarb Crumble Bars

Dark Chocolate Espresso Kissed Brownies

There are a few key steps to making this dish unique and successful, but it begins with use of the highest quality ingredients — especially the chocolate.

Get the Recipe: Dark Chocolate Espresso Kissed Brownies with Chocolate Mascarpone Frosting

Cream Cheese Brownies

Dragging a knife through the mixture of sweet cream cheese filling and chocolatey batter produces a fun marbling effect in these black-and-white brownies.

Get the Recipe: Cream Cheese Brownies

Hard Core Brownies With Caramel Sauce

Chuck's brownies are studded with sweet, nutty pecans, but it's the caramel sauce that really sets this recipe apart: perfectly gooey and seasoned with just a pinch of cayenne pepper for heat.

Get the Recipe: Hard Core Brownies with Caramel Sauce

Buttered Scotch Blondies

Scotch whisky (and plenty of butter) gives these blondies great texture and just the right amount of sweetness.

Get the Recipe: Buttered Scotch Blondies

S'mores Bars

It's hard to improve on the classically simple s'more, but Kelsey might have done just that with her marshmallowy, chocolately s'mores bar recipe.

Get the Recipe: S'mores Bars

Cardamom Fennel Brownies

Spice Goddess Bal Arneson puts a spicy spin on her brownie recipe by infusing her batter with fennel and cardamom. A white chocolate and cardamom ganache makes for the perfect sweet-spiced finish.

Get the Recipe: Cardamom Fennel Brownies

Pretzel Brownies

This brownie recipe gets satisfyingly salty crunch from crushed pretzels and saves you time by utilizing store-bought brownie mix.

Get the Recipe: Pretzel Brownies