Magical M&M Cookie Bars

 

If you made my [made with limes] Brazilian lemonade, then you found yourself with leftover sweetened condensed milk that you’re probably wondering what to do with. Well, I’ll tell you, you can do the same thing with a partial can of sweetened condensed milk that you can with a full one, in this case, make layered cookie bars.

I have been in a bit of a mood. There are a LOT of reasons for this mood, none of which I will go into here. Suffice to say that EVERYTHING was annoying me, the least of which was my “pummeling pantry” that, every time I opened the door, would hit me with one thing or another.  After four or five times, this becomes annoying. I decided that I was going to take all of those weird things that kept falling out of the pantry, put them together and make cookies out of them.

Months ago I had an intense craving for peanut M&Ms and bought a package that lasted longer than the craving. Every time I opened that pantry door, they either fell on my head, landed by my feet, or mocked me. I decided to get back at them by smashing them to bits with a meat mallet, providing me with one of the layers in these cookies. The next layer was about a half a cup of cocktail peanuts leftover from when I made the Salted Peanut Crisps, lastly was about a cup of chocolate chips that I had wrapped up and rubber banded together in a bag. All of those went together quite well, and I’m very pleased with the results. What I particularly like here is the crunch that you get from the M&M shells. Make these cookies with the kids. They will love smashing the M&Ms, be delighted with the colorful outcome, and no doubt happy with the taste. If you don’t have these particular ingredients, come up with your own. Essentially, you need a graham cracker crust, 3 cups of various chips, nuts, or other bits, and a full can (or not so full can) of sweetened condensed milk. Make yourself some magic.  Magical M&M Cookie Bars

2 c. graham cracker crumbs, more or less
1 stick butter, more or less, melted
1 c. crushed peanut M&Ms*
1 c. cocktail peanuts
1 c. chocolate chips
1 14-oz., or thereabouts, can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. For easy removal of your cookie bars, line a 9” x 9” square baking dish with heavy duty foil making sure to have 2 inches sticking out of either side to facilitate lifting once the cookie bars have cooled. Spray foil and pan with PAM.

Stir together graham cracker crumbs and butter, and press into the bottom of a 9” x 9” pan. Scatter the M&Ms, peanuts, and chocolate chips over the top, then pour sweetened condensed milk overall to cover, or almost cover. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the edges are bubbly. Cool in the pan for about 20 minutes before running a knife around the edge and utilizing the foil to lift it out of the pan to a cutting board where you can then slice it into squares.

 *I put them in a plastic bag and used a meat mallet.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.