You’ve had a magic cookie bar before, right? That glorious mix of a buttery graham cracker crust, creamy sweetened condensed milk, chewy coconut and lots of chocolate chips, nuts or candies on top, right? If not, we really need to change that. Stat.
Magic cookie bars are one of my all time favorite desserts. I love to make them for every holiday, and it’s so fun to switch them up by adding different holiday M&M’s. Valentine Magic Cookie Bars, Christmas Magic Cookie Bars, Halloween Magic Cookie Bars – I love them all! When I make them during the holidays, I have to wait and make them at the very last minute. Why? Because I could pretty much have my way with the entire pan. Just give me a fork and get out of my way.
Ah, I mean seriously. LOOK AT THAT. And they are ridiculously easy to make. Like you can’t mess them up and you don’t even need a mixing bowl.
You just layer all that good stuff in a pan, bake it and enjoy. And share. Maybe. If you are feeling generous. Or on second thought share, quickly, before they call your name and you eat them all and wonder what the heck happened. I speak from experience on this one.
I love using holiday M&M candies to add color to my magic cookie bars. You can make these work for different holidays just by picking up a bag of colorful M&Ms. Easy peasy.
VALENTINE MAGIC COOKIE BARS
MAGIC COOKIE BAR RECIPE
Ingredients
- Non-Stick Cooking Spray
- 1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 cup Holiday M&M candies
- 1 1/3 cup flaked coconut
- sprinkles for garnish
Instructions
- HEAT oven to 350°F. Coat 13 x 9-inch baking pan generously with non-stick cooking spray.
- COMBINE graham cracker crumbs and butter in small bowl. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer with coconut, chocolate chips, M&M candies, sprinkles and nuts if desired. Press down firmly with fork.
- BAKE 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Allow to cool on a wire rack for at least one hour. Cut into bars, serve and enjoy.
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
And if you want even more recipes for Magic Cookie Bars, check out my Magic Cookie Bar recipe collection!
Originally published February 2015
Meet Christi, Love From The Oven
I’m Christi I love sharing easy & delicious recipes that your family & friends will love. I’m a mom, baker, cookbook author and lover of sprinkles.
I’m making them today, but I would like to know if you can freeze some of them?
I have made these in the past and just mixed together everything without making a layer I mixed the graham crackers in with everything else. Did not use coconut but used chocolate and butterscotch chips. Along with nuts. Always turned out great.
Extremely rich!!! Does anybody have any idea of how many calories are in this? I searched the website for it and could not find that information.
Since this post is about 9 years old it’s from before I started including nutritional info. I went ahead and updated the recipe card to provide that. And yes, they are notoriously rich!
They look great and I love the colours
WOW. I don’t know if these could get any better. They look amazing. Pinning!
Do you think these would work without the coconut or do you have a suggestion for a replacement for the coconut in the Magic Cookie Bars? Thanks!
Hi Mary, that’s a hard one because really aside from the crust and the sweetened condensed milk, you only have two other ingredients, the chocolate chips/candies and the coconut, so you are leaving out a big part of the recipe. Technically there is no reason you couldn’t make it without coconut (it’s not like a baking soda or eggs type of component which is going to impact a rise for example), but that said, they will likely be pretty messy as the coconut kind of gels with the milk and holds it together. I’m not sure about the taste, as I think the coconut is a big part of the taste in a magic cookie bar. I’d say you can always try it, but I can’t really speak to what the results will be. Sorry!
I think Valentine’s Day is my favorite holiday for treats due to all of the pink. Lovin’ these bars. So pretty and I know scrumptious!