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These M&M Chocolate Bars have layers of oats, a sweetened condensed milk and chocolate center topped with more oats and M&Ms.
We LOVE Baking with M&Ms – from M&M cookies to M&M cake mix cookie bars, M&M cookie cake– they’re the perfect addition to so many desserts.
Our go-to Dessert
We make dessert all the time, but one of our go-to’s (along with our sheet cake and cookie bars) are these M&M Chocolate Bars. We love them because:
- So Easy – So Yummy! They are so simple and delicious. Everyone asks for the recipe. They’re also great with ice cream.
- The perfect treat to change up. Because of the M&Ms, we love to make this for different holidays using the different holiday candies.
- Make Ahead. This treat can easily be made in advance which is great for busy days.
Even our local firefighters love this treat and request it each year!
How to Make M&M Chocolate Bars
- PREHEAT. Preheat the oven to 350.
- BASE. In a large bowl, mix oats, flour, brown sugar, salt and 1 cup softened butter with a spoon. Remove 1 cup of this mixture and set it aside. Press the remaining mixture into a greased 9×13 dish.
- CHOCOLATE LAYER. In a small pot, melt sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons of butter over low-medium heat. Stir constantly until chips are melted and everything is smooth.
- TOPPING. Pour this mixture over the oats and spread evenly. Sprinkle reserve oat mixture over the top along with the M&Ms.
- BAKE. Bake for about 25-30 minutes. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting.
more Variations
M&Ms now have so many different varieties and colors, that you can create custom M&M bars for every holiday.
- Use Holiday M&Ms for different holidays.
- Use Different flavors of M&Ms to change up the flavor (for example: Peanut Butter M&Ms – even add a few PB chips too!)
- Add other toppings.
- crushed Oreos
- Toffee Bits
- Other chocolate chips (white chocolate and butterscotch are great)
- Reese’s Pieces
- Sprinkles
Storing
- To STORE these bars, just cover tightly with Saran wrap and place on the counter for up to 3 days. If needing to reheat, just do so in the microwave for about 15 seconds.
- Once cooked and cooled, you can FREEZE these cookie bars by placing a freezer-safe Ziploc bag and freezing for up to 2 months.
- Thaw overnight and REHEAT in the microwave.
For more Bars:
M&M Chocolate Bars Recipe
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ cups quick-cooking rolled oats
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter softened, divided
- 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 (11.5-ounce) bag milk chocolate chips
- 1 cup plain M&M’s
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-x-13-inch baking dish and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix flour, oats, brown sugar, salt and 1 cup butter with a spoon. Remove 1 cup of the mixture and set aside.
- Press remaining mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
- In a medium pot, combine condensed milk, chocolate chips and remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium-low heat. Stir constantly until chips are melted and everything is mixed well.
- Pour chocolate mixture over oat layer and spread evenly. Sprinkle reserved oat mixture over the chocolate.
- Top with M&M’s and bake for 25–30 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan before cutting.
Video
Notes
Variations: Easily change up these bars with different types of M&M’s, such as white chocolate or peanut butter M&M’s. This is not only a great way to change the flavor, but also to customize the bars for holidays by using the fun holiday-colored candies.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
SUPER yummy, can’t go wrong with M&M’s and more chocolate! 😆
This is a family favorite of always turns out perfect 🙂
Love making these. I always get compliments!!
Great recipe they were a big hit at my golf event
Yay! I’m so happy to hear that!! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
So the recipe says “softened” butter, but in the comments it seems I was supposed to melt it? Which is the correct way?
So you will use softened butter when making the dough (1 cup). Then for the chocolate layer, you add chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk and 2 Tbsp of butter to a saucepan and heat, so that butter will melt in with the other ingredients in the saucepan. So you kind of do both. 🙂 Hopefully that helped clear up any confusion. We have a video on this post showing how to make the bars too which can help giving a little clarification too.
Ahmayziinggg!!! I cooked them for 28 minutes. Still gooey. But I like gooey
Me too! Thank you for trying them!
So good. Who doesn’t love a good cookie bar? These are one of our favorites. We will be making today with holiday M&Ms just to make sure the sugar coma is complete. 😂
We love this recipe! I haven’t brought it anywhere where people don’t comment and say how much they like it! Totally crowd pleaser and love that it’s a bar cookie- easier to make a lot of them and fast.
One of my favorite recipes! Whenever I bring it to an event, everyone wants the recipe!
These bars are so yummy! They are very flavorful and tasty.
Glad you think so 😉 Thank you!