Thick, chewy, and soft Peppermint Crunch Sugar Cookie Bars with peppermint frosting! Easy to make, festive, and so yummy!
Try these other Christmas recipes when you’re done enjoying these cookie bars! Gingerbread Cake, Thumbprint Cookies, and Easiest 3 Ingredient Peppermint Bark.
It’s official guys, we are knee-deep into the holiday season. I just found out that people put their Christmas trees up the day after Halloween. Say whaaa? That’s crazy. Unless you’re one of those people….. actually it’s still crazy. We put ours up on Thanksgiving Day this year and I still felt like we were bordering on being a bit premature.
My first post-Thanksgiving recipe is very Christmas-y I feel like. Peppermint, that’s definitely a holiday flavor, right? I actually made these peppermint sugar cookie bars on Thanksgiving morning. right before decorating the tree. I’ve decided that simultaneously tree-trimming, candy cane-crushing, and singing your lungs out (not always on key I might add) just might be the single most enjoyable thing on earth.
If you haven’t tried it, please cease all current activity and join me in soaking up this holiday bliss – tree-trimming/peppermint sugar cookie-frosting/feliz navidad off-key-singing style.
These bars got the official stamp of approval from my mom so I know they’ve gotta be really, really good. She usually has some helpful, positive constructive criticism but these bars left her critique-less. She said they were moist, soft, thick and chewy, and loaded with just enough fluffy peppermint frosting. Actually, she said she wouldn’t mind a whole bowl of just the frosting!
What people are saying about these Peppermint Crunch Sugar Cookie Bars
“I literally just made these! SO DELICIOUS! I used about 2 and half teaspoons of peppermint for the icing though. Came out SUPER minty and tasted exactly like candy canes! DELISH! Love these so much, may just have to make them year round! XD” – Lee
“Awesome recipe! I made these for a holiday gathering and they were a huge hit! I didn’t have the right size pan so used a 9×9 instead, so they were a bit thicker, but still tasted fantastic! And the frosting was to die for! Definitely going to be a go to holiday baking recipe from now on.” – Stephanie
Peppermint Crunch Sugar Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter - softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg
- 4 tablespoons sour cream - OR plain greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Frosting
- ½ cup butter
- 2 tablespoons cream cheese - softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract - (OR vanilla extract)
- ¼ cup finely crushed candy canes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375. Line a 9×13 inch baking pan with foil and lightly grease the foil. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl cream butter until light and fluffy (about 1 minute). Add sugars and mix until combined. Add egg, sour cream, and vanilla and mix well. Gradually mix flour mixture into wet ingredients and continue to mix until the dough comes together and not crumbly.
- Gently press dough into bottom of prepared pan. Bake 18-22 minutes until golden and the top no longer appears “wet”. Allow to cool completely.
- When the bars have cooled, prepare the frosting. In a medium bowl whip butter for 2-3 minutes (no less!) until very fluffy. Add cream cheese and mix well. Gradually mix in powdered sugar until completely combined. Mix in peppermint extract. Spread frosting over cooled bars. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes. Cut into squares or triangles and serve. Store in airtight container.
I used half peppermint extract and half vanilla extract in the cookie dough for more mint flavor. Instead of frosting, I drizzled them with Peppermint glaze and sprinkled the candy cane pieces on top. THen I cut them into triangles, like christmas trees. Delicious and pretty.
Sounds fantastic!
Would it be too much to add some peppermint extract to the cookie dough??
I think a little bit wouldn’t hurt!! Sounds delicious.
Grandma of 5, 7 & 8 year olds. Are the crushed candy canes too sharp for the kids? They look like broken glass. Thank you.
They should be fine but if you prefer, you can add less peppermint on top