Peppermint Hot Cocoa Cookie Bars

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Have your hot cocoa and eat it too with these Peppermint Hot Cocoa Cookie Bars.  They feature 7 layers of delicious cookies, peppermints, marshmallows, chocolate, peanuts, coconut and then are finally drizzled with sweetened condensed milk.  Perfect for cookie exchanges!

Nothing warms you up more than hot cocoa after you’ve enjoyed an afternoon playing out in the snow.  I know when I was a child, it was the first thing I asked my mother for, before I even had my boots off.  Now, I know to have the hot chocolate ready and waiting for my children, 10 minutes after they’ve taken their first steps outside the door.  And don’t forget the extra marshmallows or there will be tears.

Now that I am older, I still love hot chocolate, but I love mine with peppermint.  It instantly reminds me of the holidays and it’s a must in beverages this time of year.  I also love to go into a certain coffee shop and have my hot chocolate made with peppermint.

Something we always love to have alongside our hot cocoa is cookies.  We bake cookies nonstop in our house, in December.  Again, it’s the holidays and it’s something you do to spread cheer and be festive.  I was delighted when I was shopping in my local Wal-Mart and spotted these NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Hot Cocoa Cookies .  I thought, those geniuses, they brought together two of the bests combos ever for the holidays and they’re stuffed with marshmallows.  Can’t have hot cocoa without marshmallows!  What’s even better as they have already done the work for you.  Just break and bake and only 10 minutes stands between you and hot cocoa cookies.  Perfect for me, since my children spend approximately 10 minutes outside, before they’re toes are freezing off and they’re begging to come inside.

I was also delighted to see Nestle has a cookie of the year, which was Salted Caramel, OMG, YUM!  I’ll be going back to Wal-Mart to snag a package of those!

Because of my love of peppermint and hot cocoa, I wanted to make a cookie bar that included candy canes.  The hot cocoa cookies are delicious on their own, simple and quick, but I wanted to add a few layers to them to hand out and make them a show stopper at my next party.  I think they would be perfect for a cookie exchange party.  When I would host an exchange at my house, one of the rules was, it couldn’t be store-bought.  Therefore, these would be perfect as you are taking a store-bought cookie but jazzing them up to make them your own.  Perfect for cookie swaps.

 I love the fact that I didn’t have to pre-make the dough, so I started with the Nestle Hot Cocoa cookies as my bottom layer.  I double layered the cookies on top of each other so I had a thick cookie base, baked them for 30 minutes, which is longer than the package requires, but they are thicker than just using the dough.  I took the pan out of the oven and let it cool for a little while.  Then I topped the cookie layer with peanuts, coconut and more chocolate chips.  I drizzled the sweetened condensed milk all over and then placed them back into the oven and baked for 10 more minutes. Finally, I topped with marshmallows and candy canes, drizzled a little more sweetened condensed milk and returned to the oven for another 10 minutes, only until the marshmallows started to brown.

Just look at those ooey gooey marshmallows on the cookie layer?  Yes, those are baked right into the cookie dough, isn’t that incredible?  And the sweetened condensed milk that is kissing every inch of that bar….Mmmm.  My husband, who isn’t the fondest of peppermint, took one bite and declared they were amazing.  I love when I can win him over on something he isn’t fond of.  My kids went nuts for these.  They loved that they were made with hot cocoa cookies that had marshmallows on the bottom layer and the top.

What’s even better, I didn’t use both packages of Nestle hot cocoa cookies, so there were some left over for us to just bake and eat alone.  They went perfect with a tall glass of milk!  And can I just tell you the aroma in my house smelled so delicious.  Heaven from the oven!

Does that picture make you want to reach through the screen and just eat it?  Like the Rachael Ray always says, “when are they going to invent smell-o-vision?”

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Peppermint Hot Cocoa Cookie Bars

Prep 5 mins

Cook 50 mins

Total 55 mins

Author Strawberry Blondie Kitchen

Yield 12

Have your hot cocoa and eat it too with these Peppermint Hot Cocoa Cookie Bars. They feature 7 layers of delicious cookies, peppermints, marshmallows, chocolate, peanuts, coconut and then are finally drizzled with sweetened condensed milk. Perfect for cookie exchanges!

Ingredients

• 2 (16.5oz) packages NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Hot Cocoa cookie dough (You'll use 32 cookies)
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup peanuts, chopped
• 6 ounces sweetened condensed milk
• 2/3 cup marshmallows
• 4 candy canes, crushed and divided

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line an 8 x 8 pan with parchment paper that over hangs the sides.
2. Place 16 cookie disks into the pan and spread out. Place another 16 on top and spread those out.
3. Bake for 30 minutes or until set and let cool.
4. Sprinkle on chocolate chips, coconut, peanuts and candy canes. Drizzle on 4 ounces of sweetened condensed milk and bake for 10 minutes
5. Sprinkle on marshmallows and remaining candy canes and drizzle on the rest of the sweetened condensed milk on top.
6. Bake another 10 minutes or until the marshmallows are slightly browned.
7. Remove parchment paper from pan and cut into 12 bars.

Courses Dessert

As I mentioned before, I think these would make perfect cookie exchange bars.  What’s even better, you can package up your cookie bars to pass out with these adorable gift tags, as I’ve done here. There’s also little flags and paper ribbons and bows you could use for cupcakes, cookie cups or appetizers for all your parties, food gifting and cookie swaps.

Click on the link below for your free download of Holiday Tags, Paper Ribbon & Bows from Nestle.

Nestlé December Flags Tags and Labels

If you have other treats you bake each year to pass out to friends and family, you can visit Walmart’s Nestle Neighborhood page to find a few tutorials to help you make your holiday treats really shine this year.

For even more inspiration, follow Nestle on Pinterest and check out their Flavorful Moments and Very Best Baking board.  They are choked full of awesome recipes!

Also, be sure to follow Nestle on Instagram and Facebook for more recipes, festive ideas and delicious photos!

I’d love to hear, how will you use Nestle this holiday baking season?  Do you make their famous chocolate chip cookies?  What shortcuts do you use this busy holiday season?  I recommend Nestle cookie dough, they have incredible flavors!