Description
These thick, chewy M&M Cookie Bars are a colorful, crowd-pleasing treat perfect for parties, bake sales, or sharing with friends and family. With a rich caramel-like batter loaded with M&M’s and semi-sweet chocolate chips, they’re easy to make and bake into delicious bars with a perfect balance of sweetness and texture.
Ingredients
Scale
Wet Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 cups packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
Mix-ins
- 1 cup plain M&M’s
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat Oven and Prepare Pan: Preheat your oven to 350ºF (175ºC) and line a 9×13-inch baking dish with parchment paper to prevent sticking and allow easy removal of the cookie bars.
- Mix Wet Ingredients: In a large bowl, combine the melted unsalted butter, packed brown sugar, and vanilla extract. Stir well to blend. Add the eggs and continue mixing until the batter achieves a thick, caramel-like consistency.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt to evenly distribute the leavening agent and seasoning.
- Incorporate Dry Ingredients into Wet: Gradually add the dry flour mixture into the wet batter in increments of about ½ cup, folding gently each time to smooth out any flour ribbons. The batter will become very thick as you combine the ingredients.
- Add Mix-ins: Gently fold in the M&M’s and semi-sweet chocolate chips, ensuring they are evenly distributed without overmixing the batter.
- Transfer to Pan and Bake: Spread the batter evenly into the prepared 9×13-inch pan. Optionally, top with additional M&M’s and chocolate chips for extra color and sweetness. Bake in the preheated oven for 26 minutes, until the edges are set and the center is just shy of firm.
- Cool and Cut: Remove the pan from the oven and carefully lift out the cookie slab using the parchment paper. Allow it to cool on a wire rack completely. Once cooled, use a knife or bench scraper to cut into 24 equal squares.
Notes
- For best texture, do not overbake; bars should be slightly soft in the center when removed from the oven as they will firm up during cooling.
- You can substitute M&M’s with other colorful candy-coated chocolates or add nuts if desired.
- Storing these bars in an airtight container at room temperature will keep them fresh for up to 4 days.
- These bars freeze well—wrap individually and freeze for up to one month.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie bar (approximately 1/24 of recipe)
- Calories: 174 kcal
- Sugar: 19 g
- Sodium: 126 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 28 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 26 mg
