These Peppermint Dream Bars are awesome. If you’re a peppermint lover you will love these blondie-type bars. The shortbread-type bar has triple peppermint flavor. First, there’s peppermint extract in the dough, then there’s Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips in the dough and on the top of the bar. Finally, there’s peppermint extract in the icing too. The heavenly aroma of peppermint penetrated my house for hours. It was wonderful.

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I was trying to find a way to use up a lot of extra baking ingredients leftover from Christmas baking and that’s when I came up with this delightful recipes. I decided to recycle the Paradise Bakery and Cafe  recipe for sugar cookies with a few additions. I added a bag of Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips, and a luscious peppermint icing on top.

The result was simply A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! As a result of making this recipe I was able to finish off one of my tins of Crisco, a box of cake flour, and another package of the peppermint baking chips. I have a long way to go to get rid of all my excess baking ingredients, though, so I will be making lots of cookies over the next few months trying to use up all my excess stuff. Hopefully, you, my readers, will enjoy each and every one of them!

If you’re looking for a Christmas or Valentine’s Day cookie, or a beautiful one just for special occasions, consider these elegant Peppermint Dream Bars. They’re so pretty and taste divine! They’re also a great goody to take to friends who need a meal–not to mention your co-workers would love to get dibs on some of these  fabulous Peppermint Dream Bars. Go ahead, indulge!

When I initially made these in February 2013, it was before I started using my Canon camera. The pictures were taken with an iPhone so they were not very sharp and the lighting was poor. I recently remade these blondies (December 2016) for our Christmas Cookie Extravaganza this year.

Instead of white icing, I added red food coloring so the icing is pink. Additionally, I spread a lot more icing on the bars than in the original recipe. Either way works fine for this recipe.

Andes Peppermint Baking Chips are not the easiest to locate. I found several bags at Cost Plus World Markets. John actually picked these up in Atlanta while traveling, although they have a Dallas location as well. You can also purchase them on Amazon, but they were only about $2.99 per bag at World Market and about $7.00 per bag on Amazon the last time I checked.

In the past, I’ve always been able to get these baking chips at Wal-Mart during the holidays. Unfortunately, no store in the Dallas Metroplex was carrying these amazing baking chips this year. These cookies are truly a dream if you enjoy a peppermint explosion in every bite. 🙂

Aren’t Peppermint Dream Bars beautiful? Don’t these cookies just make you drool? These mouthwatering goodies are a delightful treat for Christmas and other special occasions. These bars are so impressive. If you want an over-the-top peppermint treat, consider making these spectacular bars.

These tasty treats are like a peppermint-flavored sugar cookie–shortbread style–with peppermint baking chips and peppermint icing on top.

These beautiful bars are a great Valentine’s Day option, too–such beautiful Valentine colors. This dense, decadent dessert bar is full of peppermint flavor. So yummy! If you enjoy peppermint flavor you ought to consider giving these great bars a try.

Here’s what I did.

I used these ingredients.

Place Crisco shortening in a large mixing bowl. Add sugar, powdered sugar, peppermint flavoring, eggs, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Mix all the ingredients together with an electric mixer.

Add cake flour and Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips. 

Stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Mixing with an electric mixer overmixes the dough and toughens the batter.

Spray a 10×15″ glass baking dish with cooking spray. Press dough down to fit pan.

Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely before adding icing.

I used these ingredients plus water to make the icing.

While bars are baking, make icing: Place powdered sugar in a mixing bowl. Add peppermint extract and a few drops of red food coloring. Add water – a tablespoon at a time until you get to spreading consistency. Start with 2 tablespoons and mix with a whisk as well as you can. Then add an additional tablespoon or two. Do NOT add too much water or your icing will be too thin. I used between 2-3 tablespoons of water.

Spoon icing into a plastic bag. Cut off one of the corners and pipe icing in diagonal or swirling patterns on top of the bars. Or drizzle icing over top with a spoon. Allow icing to dry before cutting into bars.

These exquisite dessert bars are great for office parties, baby showers, brunches, or other special occasions. They’re lovely for holiday baking too.

My house was saturated with a delicious peppermint fragrance for quite some time especially after I cut into the bars. Wow! It was marvelous. Peppermint Dream Bars are really not very difficult to make. They’re easier than cookies because you can just press all the dough into a pan instead of having to roll the dough into balls.

Here’s the recipe.

PEPPERMINT DREAM BARS

(Recipe inspired from World Famous Paradise Café Sugar Cookies published in the Arizona Republic, July 31, 2001, via Food.com)

The peppermint essence in these delicious Peppermint Dream Bars simply rocks!

This batch of blondies was whipped up in about 10-15 minutes. 

Here’s another close up picture to tantalize you! These bars are first-rate. You ought to consider making these for one of your next parties!

You may also enjoy these delicious recipes!

Peppermint Crunch Chunkies

Red Velvet Peppermint Kisses

Peppermint Chip Meltaways