Christmas Cookie Bars (healthy + easy!)
Easy and quick to make, these Christmas Cookie Bars are the perfect festive treat for all the family! Made in one bowl with simple ingredients, these whole wheat baked cookie bars are the holiday treat you need!
Whole Wheat Cookie Bars
Christmas baking just got a little easier with these fun and festive cookie bars!
Decorated with red and green candies ❤️💚, this is a great recipe to make with your kids and the final bars are so delicious!
These bars are super easy to make – all you need is one mixing bowl, a spoon and a baking dish!
Made with whole wheat flour, chocolate chips and chocolate candies, these Christmas cookie bars are a great treat to share with your family 👨👩👧👧throughout the holidays.
Reasons to Love these Cookie Bars
- chewy and delicious
- toddler, kids and adult- favorite
- cut to size – small piece for toddler, big piece for you;)
- made in one bowl
- fun to make with the kids
- nut-free
- can be made gluten-friendly
- freezer-friendly
Ingredients
Before we get to the full recipe below, here are a few notes about the ingredients that you will need to make this whole wheat Christmas cookie bar recipe:
- Whole wheat pastry flour: Use pastry flour rather than regular whole wheat flour. It is ground more finely and produces lighter and softer cookie bars. You can also use white whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, unbleached flour or a gluten-free flour blend.
- Baking soda: So that the bars rise in the oven.
- Salt: Just a little to help enhance the sweetness.
- Butter: Use unsalted butter. If you use salted butter, reduce the amount of salt added.
- Brown sugar: I love using brown sugar for cookies. It helps create that chewy texture and the molasses produce a deeper and rich flavor.
- Egg: To help bind the ingredients together.
- Vanilla extract: Use pure rather than imitation if you can.
- Chocolate chips and candies: I used semi-sweet and white chocolate chips, but you can use any chips you prefer – semi-sweet, milk, dark, white, dairy-free. I also used these dye-free chocolate candies, which we love.
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven and line a baking pan with tin foil. Spray tin foil with a cooking spray.
- Stir: In a medium bowl, stir together the melted butter, brown sugar and sugar until well combined.
- Add Ingredients: Add in the egg and the vanilla extract and stir until combined.
- Combine: Add in the flour, baking soda and salt and stir until combined. This mixture will be thick.
- Add Chocolate Chips: Add in the chocolate chips and stir.
- Press: Drop the cookie dough into the pan and press until evenly spread.
- Add Candy: Sprinkle on the chocolate candies and extra chocolate chips.
- Bake: Place the pan into the oven and bake until the edges are just golden brown, it will look slightly undercooked but it will continue to cook as it sets.
- Cut: Lift the cookie bars out of the pan using the tin foil and place on a cutting board. Cut into 16 bars or smaller if you have younger kids.
- Eat: serve and eat!
Tips
- Mix the cookie batter together well so that no dry flour is visible.
- Use foil to line your baking tin. Let the foil overlap the edge of the tin so that the cookie bar is easy to lift out.
- Spray a little oil on your fingers to stop the dough sticking to your hands when you press the dough into the baking dish.
- Bake the Christmas cookie bar in a fully preheated oven so that it cooks through evenly.
- Once cooled, store the bars in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the fridge for up to 5.
Cooking with Kids
You can easily get your kids to help you make these fun Christmas cookie bars!
TODDLERS
- Toddlers can help measure the ingredients.
- With help they can help to mix the cookie batter.
- They will have fun decorating them with the chocolate chips and candies.
KIDS
- They can pick out and measure all of the ingredients.
- They can help to mix together the batter.
- With help, they can pour the batter into the baking dish.
- They will have fun decorating them with chocolate candies.
- With adult supervision, they can put the baking pan into the oven and set timer.
More Christmas Recipes
- Healthy Christmas Punch for Toddler + Kids (with DIY Fruit Sticks)
- Healthy Sugar Cookies (allergy-friendly)
- Grinch Mini Muffins for Baby + Toddler
- Healthy Gingerbread Waffles for Baby + Toddler
Tools Needed
Get the recipe: Christmas Cookie Bars
Easy and quick to make, this Christmas cookie bars are the perfect festive treat for all the family. Made in one bowl with simple ingredients, these whole wheat baked cookie bars are the holiday snack you need!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (see notes)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips, semi-sweet, dark, milk, white (or mixture of a few)
- 1/3 cup chocolate candies
Instructions
- Prep: preheat the oven to 325° F. Line a 9×9 baking pan with tin foil. Spray tin foil with a cooking spray.
- Stir: in a medium bowl, stir together the melted butter, brown sugar and sugar until well combined.
- Add Ingredients: add in the egg and the vanilla extract and stir until combined.
- Combine: add in the flour, baking soda and salt and stir until combined. This mixture will be thick.
- Add Chocolate Chips: add in the chocolate chips and stir.
- Press: drop the cookie dough into the pan and press until evenly spread. I found spraying my fingertips helps the dough not stick to my fingers.
- Add Candy: sprinkle on the chocolate candies and extra chocolate chips.
- Bake: place the pan into the oven and bake for 20-22 minutes. Take the cookie bars out when the edges are just golden brown, it will look slightly undercooked but it will continue to cook as it sets. Let cool to the touch. If you candies and chocolate chips sank, simply press more into the spots where they disappeared.
- Cut: Lift the cookie bars out of the pan using the tin foil and place on a cutting board. Cut into 16 bars or smaller if you have younger kids.
- Eat: serve and enjoy.
Notes
Whole wheat flour: Use pastry flour rather than regular. This will result in softer and lighter cookie bars.
Storage: Store in an airtight container for 2 days at room temperature or up to 5 days in the fridge.
Calories: 108kcal, Carbohydrates: 21g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 2g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 13mg, Sodium: 93mg, Potassium: 64mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 13g, Vitamin A: 39IU, Calcium: 25mg, Iron: 1mg
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3 Comments on “Christmas Cookie Bars (healthy + easy!)”
Yummy recipe, i am going to make this soon. thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe.
I love this! I am struggling to find whole wheat pastry flour that is accessible to me during this time. Anything I need to do to improve the texture of having to use regular whole wheat flour?
I found some at my Target but I’m sure they don’t sell it at every target. The best way to use whole wheat flour (and not make it so dense) is to use half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour. You can also use all-purpose or unbleached flour for this recipe.