18 Easy Dessert Bar Recipes for Bake Sales, Lunch Boxes, and More

These dessert bars are a cut above the rest.

By
Yasmine Maggio
Yasmine Maggio
Yasmine Maggio
Associate Editor
Yasmine is an Associate Editor at Serious Eats. Her work has been featured in Women’s Health and on L’Officiel USA, and she recently graduated from New York University with a master's in journalism. You can find her at Bleecker Street Pizza on any given weekend.
Learn about Serious Eats' Editorial Process
Updated August 11, 2025
Side view of nanaimo Bars

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

Cakes can be fussy, and cookies take some work to portion and bake. But dessert bars? Layer everything in a single pan, bake it, then slice into squares for that potluck, bake sale, or lunch box. No matter what you love, this list has what you're looking for. Bright citrus? Chewy caramel? Deep, dark chocolate? Below, we've got 17 excellent dessert bar recipes—including fudgy brownies, cheesecake bars, and millionaire's shortbread—that will satisfy your sweet tooth.

Love any of these recipes? Tap "Save" to add them to MyRecipes, our free tool to save and organize favorites from top food sites.

  • Glossy Fudge Brownies

    A glossy fudge brownie on a plate, with a small pile of more brownies on a plate behind it just out of focus.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    These fudgy brownies are rich and complex. Brownies are all about brown ingredients—dark chocolate, Dutch cocoa powder, and brown sugar—but this recipe adds one more: brown butter.

  • Sweet and Salty Stout Marshmallow Bars With Pretzels and Potato Chips

    A tray of cereal bars with chocolate, potato chips, pretzels, and a drizzle of chocolate.

    Serious Eats / Morgan Eisenberg

    The Rice Krispies treats of your childhood get a makeover thanks to crushed potato chips and pretzels bound with homemade chocolate-stout marshmallow.

  • Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars

    Chocolate peanut butter cheesecake bars garnished with peanuts arranged on a serving plate

    Serious Eats / Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Tricia Manzanero, Prop Stylist: Keoshia McGhee

    If a peanut butter cup and a cheesecake had a summer fling, these bars would be their perfect love child. Creamy, crunchy, and chocolatey, this no-bake dessert is guaranteed to make people stop mid-bite so they can ask for the recipe.

  • S'mores Rice Krispies Treats

    Stacked smores rice krispie treats on a plate

    Serious Eats / Brittney Cottrell, Food stylist: Craig Ruff, Prop stylist: Josh Hoggle

    No fire pit? No problem. These s'mores bars pack toasted marshmallows, dark chocolate, and graham crunch into an easy-to-make, no-bake treat. Toasting and charring a portion of the marshmallows builds a smoky, fireside flavor that mimics classic s'mores. For gooey contrast and varied texture, stir in whole, untoasted marshmallows and chunks of chocolate.

    Continue to 5 of 18 below

  • Scotcheroos

    Plates of scotcheroos, chocolate-topped dessert bars, placed on a pink surface beside glasses of milk

    Serious Eats / Jatin Sharma

    Part Rice Krispies Treat, part candy bar—this sticky-sweet classic belongs at every potluck. A higher-than-usual ratio of corn syrup to sugar keeps the bars chewy and pliant, and opting for brown sugar instead of white amplifies the dessert's butterscotch notes while also adding moisture.

  • Strawberry Pretzel Salad

    Cut bars of strawberry pretzel salad.

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    Not a salad but definitely a dessert, strawberry pretzel salad is a delightfully salty-sweet, creamy, and crunchy staple at picnics, potlucks, and holiday celebrations.

  • Nanaimo Bars

    Side view of nanaimo Bars

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    With three distinct layers—a graham cracker crust with shredded coconut and cocoa powder, a sweet custard filling, and a bittersweet chocolate topping—Nanaimo bars are an eye-catching treat. The no-bake bars have been a mainstay across Canada since the 1950s.

  • Rocky Road

    Rock Road squares on a yellow plate, and a green tarrazzo table, with a baking dish full of more rocky road

    Serious Eats / Deli Studios

    With chocolate, crunchy biscuits, chewy fruit, and marshmallows packed into every bite, this easy one-bowl treat is sure to satisfy any sweet tooth.

    Continue to 9 of 18 below

  • Salted Dulce de Leche Brownies

    A gooey salted dulce de leche brownie on a plate next to a glass of milk.

    Serious Eats / Nila Jones

    These rich, super-fudgy brownies are topped with dollops of homemade dulce de leche and a generous sprinkle of sea salt. Consider yourself warned, because you're going to want to make these every day.

  • Strawberry Cheesecake Bars

    Strawberry cheesecake bars in a purple tray, on purple velvet

    Serious Eats / Jen Causey

    These sweet, creamy, and tangy cheesecake bars are great for eating on the go. A combination of cream cheese and goat cheese gives the cheesecake a creamy texture and pleasant tartness. Gently cooking the strawberries concentrates the fruit’s flavor and creates a jammy sauce for swirling through the filling.

  • Millionaire's Shortbread

    Side view of millionaires shortbread

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    Millionaire’s shortbread is a luxurious British confection worth making at home. This one has a tender, crumbly shortbread base and a deeply flavored, just-salty-enough butterscotch filling, along with a topping of dark chocolate that's bittersweet enough to prevent the dessert from being unbearably cloying.

  • Jammy Fruit Bars

    An overhead view of a board filled with jammy fruit bars and a plate with a single fruit bar alongside.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    These fruit bars are a perfect vehicle for market-fresh blueberries, cherries, and peaches in season, or your favorite jam during those times in between.

    Continue to 13 of 18 below

  • Vegan Brownies

    A vegan brownie on a plate with several cut brownies on a wooden board behind.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    With Dutch cocoa, dark chocolate, and cocoa butter, these vegan brownies are fudgy and flavorful, with beautifully glossy tops.

  • Sunny Lemon Bars

    Lemon bars cut into squares and dusted with powdered sugar on a marble countertop.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    A cross between lemon curd and lemon meringue pie, these lemon bars have a tender crust and a generous yellow filling made with whole eggs and yolks.

  • Biko (Filipino Sticky Rice Cake)

    A plate of biko on a decorative plate.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    These sticky and sweet Filipino rice cakes are topped with a gooey caramel glaze and crispy coconut curds.

  • Cornflake Marshmallow Treats

    Overhead view of cornflake crispies.

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    The naturally sweet and earthy flavor of Corn Flakes shines in this riff on classic Rice Krispies treats.

    Continue to 17 of 18 below

  • Brown Butter Blondies

    A stack of three brown butter blondies.

    Serious Eats / Carrie Vasios

    Blondies already have a butterscotch-y, caramel-y flavor thanks to ample amounts of brown sugar and some vanilla. Adding browned butter simply takes that same flavor profile up a notch.

  • Salted Cashew Caramel Bars

    A stack of two salted caramel cashew bars on a white plate.

    Serious Eats / Carrie Vasios Mullins

    These bars are dangerously crave-worthy. The first step is to make a shortbread cookie base that's buttery and a bit salty. The second is to make a gooey caramel topping and mix it with salted cashews. 

Explore more:

More Serious Eats Recipes