This year I’ve been all about some easy recipes. When you’ve got 12 cookie recipes to make – not to mention all the homemade gifts I do! – easy becomes of the up most importance. So this is yet another very easy recipe. It’s also a little something different and would make for great teacher, coworker, or neighbor gifts if you package it in cute little bags.
For those of you unfamiliar with “monster” cookies, they are typically “everything but the kitchen sink” cookies. Oatmeal, peanut butter, chocolate chips, raisins, M&Ms – you name it, you could put it in a monster cookie. These bars have the benefit of being loaded down toppings and flavor, but without all the fuss of making actual cookies. I think this recipe could be very adaptable so you could add even more of those favorite “monster cookie” ingredients.
Holiday Monster Cookie Bars
Print this recipe!
9 full graham crackers
4 tablespoons butter, cubed
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup holiday M&Ms
1 oz white almond bark or white chocolate, optional
Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 9×13 baking pan with foil, extending the foil over the sides to create handles. Grease foil liberally.
Place graham crackers in a zip-top plastic bag and crust with a rolling pin or meat mallet. Add in the butter cubes, seal, and microwave the bag for 30 seconds. Remove the bag, let the air out, and “smush” the butter into the cracker crumbs; make sure all the butter is incorporated and all the crumbs are coated. Pat the crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan.
Pour the condensed milk as evenly as possible over the crumb layer. (It’s impossible to smooth or even it out, so don’t even try!) Top with oats, then chocolate chips, then M&Ms. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the edges start pulling away from the sides of the pan. Allow to cool for a few minutes in the pan, then use the foil handles to transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.
Optional: Melt almond bark or white chocolate and place in a small plastic bag. Cut a tiny hole in one corner and drizzle the chocolate over the bars. Allow to harden, then cut into 16 squares.
-Adapted from Something Swanky
One year ago: White Chocolate Oreos
Two years ago: Amaretto Balls
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