If you're looking for a simple roaster that delivers a big bang for your buck, turn to bars. They're usually straightforward to make and have few ingredients—often requiring just one bowl and limited prep time. To help you find the bar of your dreams—or just your next best roast—we've pulled some of our favorite coffee and bar recipes. We've got other cool bars, buttery blondes, cocktail-inspired mashups and more. Let's go!
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
1) Oatmeal Cream Pie Bars
Just like the classic sandwich cookies that inspired this dessert, these soft and chewy cinnamon-spiced oatmeal bars are filled with fluffy, marshmallow-y frosting. They are the perfect candidate for bake sales and birthday parties; just add sprinkles.
Get the recipe: Oatmeal Cream Pie Bars
Buy the recipe: Vietnamese cinnamon AND Ginger
Food photography and styling by Liz Neily
2) Quick and Easy Fudge Brownies
These one-bowl brownies are one of the most popular recipes on our site. Why? They make reliably thick, gooey brownies and only require a handful of ingredients and a bowl. You'll have warm brownies straight from the oven in just about half an hour, start to finish.
Get the recipe: Quick and Easy Fudge Brownies
Buy the recipe: Triple Cocoa Blend AND Espresso powder
Food photography and styling by Liz Neily
3) Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Instead of scooping up individual chocolate chip cookies one at a time, press the batter directly into a pan for dense, chewy bars that straddle the line between cookie and blondie. These bars get their shiny, crunchy top from a favorite trick of ours: combining sugar with hot melted butter until it's partially melted, giving a thin, crumbly surface when baked.
Get the recipe: Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Buy the recipe: Callebaut Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
4) S'more Granola Bars
One of the easiest recipes on our site (find the other 17 easiest recipes here!), these melty, melty granola bars use the same oat-based mix for both the bottom crust and the crumbly topping. Finished with a layer of melted chocolate and toasted marshmallows, these treats are the ultimate campfire nostalgia.
Get the recipe: S'more Granola Bars
Buy the recipe: Rolled oats
Photography by Rick Holbrook; Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne; Prop styling by Brooke Deonarin
5) Magic Chocolate Cookie Bars
Magical Cookie Bars Get a Chocolate Makeover! Also known as seven-layer bars, dream bars or Hello Dolly bars, this updated version of the classic gets a touch of cocoa powder and chocolate chips, all sandwiched between a graham cracker crust and a crunchy coconut topping.
Get the recipe:Magic Chocolate Cookie Bars
Buy the recipe:Triple Cocoa Blend AND Guittard Dark Chocolate Chips
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
6) Easy Nut Pie Bars
This recipe takes everything you love about pecan pie—the soft filling, toasted nuts, and buttery crust—and packs it into a sweet, sliceable bar. It's also much more affordable than a whole pie: There's no rolling pie crust, chilling, or pre-baking. A total win!
Get the recipe: Simple Pecan Pie Bars
Buy the recipe: 9″ x 13″ pan.
Food photography and styling by Liz Neily
7) Blondes filled with chocolate
Think of these blondes as a blank slate for whatever mix-ins you want to add, from chocolate chips (white, milk, dark, all three?!) to chopped nuts to crunchy candy pieces. Because they're baked in a 9″ x 13″ pan, these bars are also great for feeding a crowd.
Get the recipe: Blondes filled with chocolate
Buy the recipe: Golden wheat flour
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
8) Peanut Butter Brownies
Made with just a handful of ingredients, these nutty brownies come together in less than an hour. The result is a whimsical peanut butter-filled brownie that comes in three forms: Mix into batter; is rolled over; and it is present in the form of chips, which wrap every bite.
Get the recipe: Peanut Butter Brownies
Buy the recipe: Triple Cocoa Blend
Photography by Erica Allen; food styling by Liz Neily
9) Bourbon Barrel Blondies
Adding a splash of bourbon barrel-aged beer to these buttery blondes provides a layer of oak and malt flavor to cut through their inherent sweetness. Like most bars and blondies, these are simple and straightforward to make, and rely on melted butter for a dense, chewy texture.
Get the recipe: Bourbon cask blonde
Buy the recipe: 8″ square pan.
Food photography and styling by Liz Neily
10) Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies
These moist and decadent milkshakes are for chocolate and dairy lovers. Each bite offers an intensely rich combination of sweet cream cheese and dark chocolate – the perfect treat for anyone who can't choose just one dessert.
Get the recipe: Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies
Buy the recipe: Triple Cocoa Blend AND Guittard Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
11) Chocolate Tahini
With their rich layers of tahini and chocolate ganache, these bite-sized no-bake bars pack a punch. The graham cracker crumbs add crunch, while the honey complements the buttery sesame flavor nicely.
Get the recipe: Chocolate Tahini
Buy the recipe: Guittard Semi-Sweet Chocolate Wafers
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
12) Dark and Stormy Gingerbread
These frosted cookies are flavored with ginger, lime and rum, evoking the cocktail from which they are named. Spicy ginger comes in four ways—fresh, ground, candied, and in syrup form (buy ginger syrup or make your own)—while cream cheese brings lime and rum.
Get the recipe:Dark and stormy gingerbread bars
Buy the recipe:Ginger People Organic Ginger Syrup
Photography by Danielle Sykes; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
13) Chocolate Caramel Bars
Good things come in threes – just check out this recipe. The combination of silky chocolate ganache, creamy caramel and buttery bread results in a bar even better than the sum of those (very delicious) parts. The slight bitterness of the dark chocolate cuts through the sweetness of the caramel, while the cookie base provides a welcome crunch to the soft, creamy layers on top.
Get the recipe: Chocolate Caramel Bars
Buy the recipe: Guittard Bittersweet Onyx Chocolate Wafers
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
14) Vanilla Butter Candy Bars
Some of our favorite bars on this list are inspired by other desserts, and this recipe fits the theme well: Take the regional favorite St. These are meant for anyone who always skips the corner section in favor of the soft, luscious center.
Get the recipe: Vanilla Butter Candy Bars
Buy the recipe: Nielsen Massey Vanilla Bean Paste AND Snow White that doesn't melt
Photography by Patrick Marinello; Food styling by Yekaterina Boytsova
15) Super Fudgy Sourdough Brownies
You don't need flour to make these delicious and gooey brownies. Instead, a 1/2 cup of sour cream gives it body, plus that luscious texture. Helpfully, these brownies are as easy as they are decadent, with the batter coming together in a single pot.
Get the recipe: Super Fudgy Sourdough Brownies
Buy the recipe: Triple Cocoa Blend
Cover photo by Danielle Sykes; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne.
