Dulce de Leche bars are layers of shortbread, chocolate, and milky caramel cream for a decadent bite! They are the perfect Christmas cookie bars for a party and are inspired by Millionaire's Shortbread.
These are the perfect Christmas cookie bars for a crowd. I call them Dulce de Leche Bars. For those not familiar with dulce de leche, it's the creamiest caramel sauce, and a staple in Latin American desserts. It's simply caramelized milk.
With a base of shortbread, center of silky caramel, and topping of chocolate, these are sure to be a favorite on the holiday dessert table. They are inspired by Millionaire's Shortbread and a homemade Twix candy bar.
These cookie bars are one of my most requested recipes when it comes to the holiday season. I love making so many Christmas cookies–try some of my other favorites like cinnamon cut-out cookies, gingerbread man cookies, and reindeer cookies.
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Why You'll Love this Recipe
- Great to Make Ahead. These bar cookies store perfectly well in an airtight container for several days. You can even freeze them and thaw before serving.
- Something everyone will love. The combo of buttery shortbread, creamy caramel and chocolate is simply irresistible. Your crowd will devour these cookies.
- Easy to assemble. Once you prepare the components of the recipe, it's simple to assemble the cookie bars and decorate them for the holiday.
- Fun presentation. Make the top of the cookies as simple or festive as you like. See my pictures for inspiration (scroll down).
What is Dulce de Leche?
You can buy the golden brown caramel sauce in a can or jar at the store, but you can also make it at home by simmering sweetened condensed milk.
Since sweetened condensed milk is already reduced to concentrate it, and sugar is added, the caramelization happens faster than just making it from scratch.
For my dulce de leche cookie bars, I wanted a filling that would have that rich milky texture, but be reminiscent of a Millionaire's Bar or Twix bar!
I added butter, brown sugar, and some salt to the sweetened condensed milk as I cooked it. Cooking it helps to thicken it so it will hold up as a filling for a cookie bar.
Ingredients in Christmas Cookie Bars
By combining the following ingredients skillfully, you'll create irresistible dulce de leche cookie bars that marry sweetness, creaminess, and chocolatey goodness.
- Unsalted Butter: Provides richness and flavor to the cookie base, contributing to its texture and taste.
- Confectioners' Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps create a smooth texture in the cookie dough or frosting.
- Vanilla Extract: Enhances the overall flavor profile with its warm and aromatic essence.
- All-Purpose Flour: Serves as the base ingredient, providing structure and volume to the bars.
- Salt: Balances the sweetness and heightens the flavors in the dough.
- Dark Brown Sugar: Adds depth and a slight molasses flavor, contributing to the richness of the dough.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk: Forms the luscious dulce de leche layer, offering sweetness and creamy caramel goodness.
- Semisweet Chocolate: Used for melting and drizzling over the bars, adding a decadent chocolatey touch.
- White Chocolate: Similar to semisweet chocolate, this is used for decoration or drizzling to add contrast and sweetness.
- Food Coloring: Optional for enhancing visual appeal, allowing customization of the dessert's look.
- Decorating Candies: Used to adorn the bars, adding visual interest and a playful touch to the final presentation.
Dulce de leche cookie bars are my delicious take on the tasty Millionaire's Bars or Twix candy!
How to Make Dulce de Leche Cookie Bars
Step 1: Make the Shortbread Crust
- Heat oven to 350°F; place rack in center. Line a 13-by-9-inch baking pan with parchment paper, allowing paper to extend on two sides.
- In a mixer bowl, beat together butter and confectioners' sugar on medium speed until light, about 2 minutes. Beat in extract, then flour and salt until combined well.
- Press crust along bottom and ½ inch up sides of prepared pan. Bake until just golden brown around edges, 12 to 18 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool completely.
Step 2: Make the Caramel Filling
- Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, milk and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and gently simmer, stirring constantly, until thickened and a deep caramel color, about 15 minutes.
- Pour over crust and spread evenly; refrigerate until completely cool, about 1 hour.
Step 3: Make the Chocolate Topping
- Melt semisweet chocolate; let cool slightly. Using a spatula, evenly spread over filling (for swirled top, see below). Refrigerate until set, about 1 hour.
- Using a knife, score chocolate layer into 1½-inch squares. Run a sharp knife under hot water; dry. Following score marks, cut into squares. Wipe knife after each cut (run under hot water and dry as needed).
Pro Decorating Tips
That swirl design on the cookie bars may look intimidating but it's not! It's made with different colors of chocolate. For this a festive design use red, green, and white chocolate melts to make gorgeous swirls.
Tip: If you just have white chocolate–Here's the secret to looking like a professional baker. Divide white chocolate into three parts. Tint one part red and one part green. Leave remaining part white. Dollop red, green, and white chocolates over the semisweet chocolate layer. Using a toothpick or skewer, gently swirl together colors.
For a store-bought shortcut you could use candy melts.
Below are some other super cute design topper ideas using mini candies. Or melt white chocolate and use a paintbrush to make a snowman. Get creative and decorate the cookie bars any way you like!
Storage
Place these cookie bars in an airtight container at room temperature to store for up to 5 days. You can also freeze these cookie bars for up to 2 months in an airtight container. Be sure to thaw at room temperature completely before serving.
More Holiday Cookie Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Christmas Cookie Bars (Dulce de Leche Cookie Bars)
Ingredients
For Crust:
- 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
- ½ cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt
For Filling and top layer:
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup packed dark brown sugar
- 2 cans (14 ounces each) sweetened condensed milk
- Pinch salt
- 10 ounces semisweet chocolate (chopped)
For decoration (optional):
- 4 ounces white chocolate (melted)
- Red and green food coloring
- Red and green mini M&M candies
- Red and green fruit leather
Instructions
Make Crust:
- Heat oven to 350°F; place rack in center. Line a 13-by-9-inch baking pan with parchment paper, allowing paper to extend on two sides.
- In a mixer bowl, beat together butter and confectioners' sugar on medium speed until light, about 2 minutes. Beat in extract, then flour and salt until combined well. Press along bottom and ½ inch up sides of prepared pan. Bake until just golden brown around edges, 12 to 18 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool completely.
Make filling:
- Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, milk, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and gently simmer, stirring constantly, until thickened and a deep caramel color, about 15 minutes. Pour over crust and spread evenly; refrigerate until completely cool, about 1 hour
- Melt semisweet chocolate; let cool slightly. Using a spatula, evenly spread over filling (for swirled top, see below). Refrigerate until set, about 1 hour.
- Using a knife, score chocolate layer into 1½-inch squares. Run a sharp knife under hot water; dry. Following score marks, cut into squares. Wipe knife after each cut (run under hot water and dry as needed).
For swirled top:
- Divide white chocolate into three parts. Tint one part red and one part green. Leave remaining part white. Dollop red, green and white chocolates over semisweet layer. Using a toothpick, gently swirl together colors.
For Decoration:
- Using white chocolate, adhere candies to squares, making holly or wreaths. Using a small, clean paintbrush, make a snowman out of white chocolate; decorate with candy. Let stand until set, about 20 minutes.
Notes
- Can be made ahead. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 1 week
Nutrition
Cookie Recipes from Tara Teaspoon
Tara Teaspoon
I’ve been in food publishing for over 25 years, creating recipes & food-styling for magazines, books, television, food brands, & advertising. With two cookbooks under my belt and thousands of my recipes at your fingertips, I hope you'll be inspired to spend more time in the kitchen!
Recipe & Food Styling Tara Teaspoon, Photographer Ellie Miller, Prop Styling Renata Chaplynsky, Originally published LHJ Dec 2007
Mary Bench says
Swirly delight!
Brittany Smart says
Dulce de leche is DELICIOUS
Heather says
Can the already made Dulce de Leche be substituted? Or does it have to be how the recipe states?
Tara says
Hi! I don’t believe already prepared dulce de leche is the right consistency (thickness) to hold in these bars. I haven’t tried it though, so if you’d like to you can! Enjoy!
Deborah Pakzaban says
Great recipe!!! Love it!
jan says
Guess I have the wrong kind of gel food coloring...couldn't color the melted white chocolate (it just seized up), so had to settle for a piped squiggle of white chocolate. Better instruction on this step would have been helpful. The bars taste good, but caramel layer isn't as flavorful as I thought it would be. ..maybe should have been cooked longer?
Tara Teaspoon says
Jan I'm sorry this didn't work for you as expected. I do note in the post that white chocolate is hard to work with. I'm sure your squiggle looked fantastic. The caramel layer is actually dulce de leche so it won't taste like a dark, rich caramel. It will always have a more mild flavor.
Jenn says
Thanks for posting this recipe. It looks delicious and I'm looking forward to making it! Did you do the swirled top before or after the chocolate layer set?
Tara T. says
Hi Jenn, the colored chocolate needs to be swirled while the dark chocolate is still soft. So get all your chocolates and coatings melted and ready, then work very quickly to spread the chocolate and dollop the color, then swirl, before anything sets. White coating is notoriously hard to make smooth, so I suggest just small dollops of that or even thick drizzles as it doesn’t “swirl” as easily.
T a r a
Jenn says
I made this last night and it turned out great. I didn't end up doing the white chocolate swirl, just used some sprinkles on top. 🙂 I will be using this recipe for dulce de leche from now on for Banoffee Pie - I've been trying to make it by baking condensed milk but yours is so much better. Thanks!
Tara Teaspoon says
FANTASTIC! What a great idea to use the dulce de leche for your Banoffee Pie! Glorious.