Halloween Cookie Bars

Make 6 different Halloween-themed cookies with one batch of dough! These festive Halloween Cookie Bars bake up in one sheet pan for cookies so delicious and easy, it’s almost scary.

For Fright Night Festivities!

Make your Halloween party deliciously easy with these Halloween Cookie Bars. Use one pan and one batch of dough to make six different and delicious spooky themed cookies. They’ll feed an army of party goers and they’re as cute as they are scrumptious!

Bake all six or choose your favorites:

• Monster Mash M&M Bars with chocolate chips and Halloween-themed M&M’s and sprinkles
• Scary S’mores Bars with graham crackers, Hershey’s chocolate, mini marshmallows and candy eyeballs
• Cookies and Cream “Graveyard” Bars with Halloween Oreos and gummy worms
• Witch’s Brew Peanut Butter Bars with peanut butter, Reese’s pieces and pretzel sticks
• Candy Corn Blondie Bars with white chocolate chips and candy corn
• Nutella Spiderweb Bars with Nutella and an icing spiderweb with an Oreo spider on top!

Cookie Bars Make Entertaining Easy!

I love making sheet pan treats for times when our house will be bustling with guests. They make holiday parties, sleepovers and birthday shindigs sweet and easy. My Sheet Pan Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are soft, chewy and out of the oven in 20 minutes. And my Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars are the easiest, yummiest sugar cookies you’ll ever bake. But once I made these 6-in-1 Sheet Pan Cookie Bars, I knew I was onto something special.

Six kinds of cookies in one pan – could it be any easier?

Ingredients and Supplies

(see recipe card at the bottom of this post for measurements and details. To learn more about specific baking ingredients and how they function in baking recipes, reference my Complete Guide to Baking Ingredients)

Cookie Ingredients:

• Unsalted butter: provides moisture, and richness. It also helps create tenderness and contributes to the chewy texture. If you use salted butter, you might consider using less salt in the recipe as it will affect the sweetness of the cookie.
• Granulated sugar: sweetens, but also contributes to the crispness on top of the cookie bars.
• Light brown sugar: adds moisture and chewiness thanks to the molasses content, plus a richer, deeper sweetness. You can use dark brown sugar instead, but the flavor will be a bit richer.
• Large eggs: helps bind all the ingredients, add moisture, and help with structure
• Pure vanilla extract: flavor enhancer that helps balance the sweetness and rounds out flavors.
• All-purpose flour: provides structure and body to the cookie bars.
• Baking soda: the leavening agent that helps the cookie bars rise a bit.
• Kosher salt: balances the sweetness and enhances the overall flavor. Table salt will actually pack a saltier punch than Kosher salt so if you only have table salt, adjust accordingly.

Mix-In Ingredients:

• Monster Mash M&M’s Bars
  • Semi-sweet chocolate baking chips
  • Halloween-colored M&M’s, plus extra on top
  • Halloween-themed sprinkles, for garnishing
• Scary S’mores Bars
  • Graham cracker crumbs 
  • Hershey’s chocolate bar, broken into chunks
  • Mini marshmallows
  • Candy eyeballs, for garnishing
• Cookies & Cream “Graveyard” Bars
  • Halloween Oreos, chopped
  • Oreos, crushed, for garnishing
  • Sour bright green & orange gummy worms, for garnishing
• Witch’s Brew Peanut Butter Bars
  • Creamy peanut butter
  • Reese’s Pieces candies
  • Broken pretzel sticks
• Candy Corn Blondie Bars
  • White chocolate chips
  • Candy corn
• Nutella Spiderweb Bars
  • Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread
  • White cookie icing, for decorating
  • Oreo
  • Pretzel sticks

Supplies:

• 17″ x 12″ rimmed sheet pan
• Non-stick cooking spray
• Electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment

How to Make Halloween Cookie Bars

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 17″x 12″ rimmed sheet pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars until well combined. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
• With the mixer on low speed, beat in the flour, baking soda and salt until combined.
• Divide cookie dough into 6 different mixing bowls (about 3/4 cup per bowl). Mix each cookie dough flavor as follows:
  • Monster Mash M&M’s Bars: stir in 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate baking chips and 1/4 cup Halloween-colored M&M’s
  • Scary S’mores Bars: stir in 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup Hershey’s chocolate bar chunks, and 1/4 cup mini marshmallows
  • Cookies & Cream “Graveyard” Bars: stir in 3 chopped Halloween Oreos
  • Witch’s Brew Peanut Butter Bars: stir in 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter until well combined and then fold in 1/4 cup Reese’s Pieces candies and 1/4 cup broken pretzel sticks
  • Candy Corn Blondie Bars: stir in 1/4 cup white chocolate chips and 1/4 cup candy corn
  • Nutella Spiderweb Bars: stir in 1/4 cup Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread until well combined and the cookie dough is dark
• Place each ball of mixed cookie dough into a sixth of the prepared sheet pan.

• Press the cookie doughs down evenly, with your hands, to fill the sixth of the sheet pan that each cookie dough is in. Each cookie dough should be pressed up next to the other cookie doughs that are beside it to fill the entire sheet pan.
• Garnish each square of cookie dough as follows:      
  • Monster Mash M&M’s Bars: garnish with more Halloween-colored M&M’s and Halloween-themed sprinkles
  • Scary S’mores Bars: garnish with more mini marshmallows
  • Cookies & Cream “Graveyard” Bars: no garnish before baking
  • Witch’s Brew Peanut Butter Bars: garnish with more Reese’s Pieces candies
  • Candy Corn Blondie Bars: no garnish before baking
  • Nutella Spiderweb Bars: no garnish before baking
• Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cookie bars comes out with moist crumbs. Try not to over-bake them if you want them to be chewy.
• Once the cookie bars are baked, let cool for a few minutes and then finish them off as follows:
  • Candy Corn Blondie Bars: press whole candy corns into the top of the warm blondie bars
  • Scary S’mores Bars: press the candy eyeballs into the melted marshmallows so they stick
  • Cookies & Cream “Graveyard” Bars: sprinkle the Oreo cookie bars section with crushed Oreos and then arrange the gummy worms on top of the Oreo “dirt”
  • Nutella Spiderweb Bars: let the bars cool for at least 10 minutes and then pipe a spiderweb design onto the Nutella bars section. Create a mini spider with the Oreo and halved pretzel sticks and place it on the spiderweb
• Let the cookie bars cool completely in the pan before cutting into squares and serving.

Storage

Store cookie bars in an air-tight container, with parchment paper between each layer, at room temperature for 4-5 days. 

To freeze, let the cookie bars cool completely, wrap cookie bars individually in plastic wrap, and then put in a freezer-safe container or in individual freezer-safe baggies. 

To defrost, let them set at room temperature, uncovered, so they don’t absorb too much moisture.

If you make my Halloween Cookie Bars, be sure to snap a picture and share it with me on Instagram @thebakermama so I can see. If you’re on Facebook, be sure to join my Friends of The BakerMama group to connect and share all the fun and yummy recipes of mine that you make! I just love seeing how inspired and creative y’all get with the ideas I share. Enjoy!

xoxo,

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