I can't skip these bars at Christmas anymore, my family expects them each year. They are chewy, buttery, and have just the right amount of peppermint for us. I usually have to extend the baking time by about 10 minutes and line the pan with nonstick aluminum foil for easy removal. We also store them between layers of wax paper in the fridge.

I had no trouble with the dough being sticky and everything seemed to be going just fine. But when I went to cut them, they were oily on the bottom and the dough didn't seem to cook properly. Not even my kids would eat them. Was supposed to bring them to a cookie party, but ended up going empty handed. Will not recommend this to anyone (and told the other All Recipe people at the party to stay awayfrom this one!)

gone in a day! I didn't smooth out the chocolate chips though, and I used a whole bag. VERY YUMMY!

I dont think they came out the way they were supposed to. They did look pretty and they didnt taste that bad either. But the consistency of the dough was weird.

For those of you having trouble with the dough, remember that this is a sugar cookie dough. Don't try to work it like a pastry dough or a brownie. I use this variation and it never fails. Use a 10x15 jelly roll pan. Drop small spoonfuls of dough evenly across the pan until only small open spaces are left between the spoonfuls. Press everything together gently but firmly and bake for about 12 minutes. I use 2 cups of chocolate chips (which does take longer to 'set'). For a greater taste contrast, use dark chocolate instead of semi-sweet. It is easier to 'pre-cut' the bars when the chocolate is almost, but not quite, hardened. Use the blade of a pastry cutter and press down, or use a heavy-duty pizza wheel. My bars always keep a nice 'chewy 'cookie' texture for a long time - even when I shipped them to a campus and they sat in the mailroom for 3 days before being picked up. I think that must be because they are only about as thick as a cookie. As far as I'm concerned, the worst part is peeling the plastic off of the candy canes! (Thus - only 4 stars instead of 5!) Good Luck!

also wanted to add the recipe is simpler if parchment paper is used cleanup is almost none and if silicone paper is used there is NO sticking TRY IT!!!!

I followed the directions to the "T" and they turned out looking beautiful. Let it cool, cut a piece and it tasted HORRIBLE! The problem was, it had NO taste. You'd think with all the peppermint it wouldnt be lacking, but it was. I do not recommend this recipe to anyone!

These were very good and easy to make. I will omit the candy on top as it's too sticky. Husband loved 'em.

I thought these were really pretty good but they didn't do well at the two parties I took them to last year. I'll keep making them for my house though.

I'm not a big candy cane fan, but this looked like a nice, festive recipe so I tried it. I decided to try it out before the holidays because of the mixed reviews I saw. I had absolutely no problem with the recipe at all. I used margarine, not butter, and I left out the food coloring and the crushed candy canes in the batter. I didn't find the batter greasy, I didn't feel the need to flour my hands, and when I cut into the bars, they were fine (I waited about 90 minutes after taking the pan out of the oven). The only thing I would recommend is using a little more chocolate -- my icing was a bit sparse in places. I scraped most of the crushed candy canes off the top before tasting a piece, and I thought it was quite good. I'm taking them to work tomorrow to make my colleagues be guinea pigs!

very good, very rich and easy to make

We added 10 drops of food coloring, and it made them nice and red. And, I floured my hands, too, to smooth the dough down, and it helped. We also used a whole bag of chocolate chips instead of just the 1 cup on top, which made them creamy! They taste wonderful!

I'm usually a very good baker, so I really don't believe it was something I did, but these cookies were greasy. The taste was ok though.

These bars were nothing like I expected. Not only were they very thin , but they became hard as a rock the next day. I won't attempt these again.

Easy to make. Very festive & colorful. Try this one!

I don't know what I did wrong. I followed the directions completely and the next morning I tried to cut these into bars and it was as hard as a rock. My son joked that we could use them for Christmas tree ornaments!

THIS WAS AMAAAZING!!!!!!! so delicious! we added a little less butter, and left the crushed peppermint out of the batter, but still put it on top.

So good. The cookie recipe is fabulous alone for cut out sugar cookies too.