Cookies & Cream Magic Cookie Bars

Magic Cookie Bars, also called Seven Layer Bars, are without a doubt one of my most favorite desserts EVER. It is the one thing that I make at Christmas that I have no willpower over, and thus have to make them at the very last minute (if I don’t, I end up needing to make a second pan – hanging head in shame). I’m always amazed at how something so simple can be SO delicious. While hitting the Easter clearance isle at Target and seeing a lot of Cookies & Cream goodies, I thought it might be fun to try a cookies and cream Oreo version of Magic Cookie Bars. Something like this…

Two things about these bars. First, they taste freaking ah-mazing. Like forget the horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day I had (think big dramatic public temper tantrums – and I don’t mean me) type of amazing. Second, unfortunately they didn’t hold together as bars quite as well as I had hoped. I *almost* didn’t post them because of that. However a very persuasive nine year old told me “who cares if you have to eat them on a plate with a fork, gooey is GOOD mom, you have to share them!”. The kid tends to be right about things more often than her mama, so here we are.

The recipe is adapted from the classic Eagle Brand Magic Cookie Bar recipe that’s been on the back of sweetened condensed milk cans for as long as I can remember, and is super simple.

Cookies & Cream Magic Cookie Bars
Recipe Adapted From Eagle Brand

1 1/2 cups Oreo crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 (14 oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup of chopped up Oreos (not crushed to the point of crumbs though)
1 cup of chocolate chips or chunks of your choice (white, dark, semi-sweet, milk or cookies & cream candy bars or Hershey’s Kisses even – in my case it was a variety of what was on the Easter clearance isle).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees for metal pans or 325 for glass pans.

Coat a 9×13″ baking pan with cooking spray.

Pour melted butter into your pan – I usually put my pan in the oven with a stick of butter in it while the oven is preheating – the butter melts as I get my other ingredients ready. Sprinkle the Oreo crumbs evenly over the melted butter, and press into pan (a spoon works well for this). Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumbs. Add your cookie pieces and chocolate chips/chunks. Press down firmly with a fork.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until lightly brown. Loosen from sides of pan while still warm and allow to cool. Dish some up and enjoy the goodness. 🙂

Bunny lovers might want to look away for a moment…

Cutting them into nice pretty squares that you can hold with a napkin might be a challenge, but get a plate and a fork and you are in business. Ooey gooey lick the plate business.