Monster Magic Bars

 When I saw this recipe I knew I needed to make it quickly.  You see I have a special place in my heart for monster cookies and magic bars, but mostly monster cookies.

Growing up we would always have my dad's family reunion at our house (you know everybody wanted to come back to the family farm).  It would get super chaotic, in a good way, especially since I have 80 first cousins.

I remember vividly going grocery shopping with my mom and buying the groceries for all the meals we were going to have.  It was mind boggling to me to buy that much food (I remember it being 5 carts of food!  Is that right mom?).

Anyway, my mom was always in charge of the monster cookies.  It was something everyone counted on and she was famous for those beauties.  We would make them several weeks ahead of time and freeze them but can you imagine the amount of cookies we had to make for over 100 of us?

The monster cookie batch is huge anyway and we would at least 4 times it.  I remember with fondess mixing everything up in this huge silver bowl and stirring until I thought my arm was going to fall off and then baking them all....day....long!

Boy were those cookies delicious though.  Then when I saw this version, way faster and easier, I thought what a perfect way to combine two of my favorites desserts.

Monster Magic Bars

(click here for printable version)


9 full graham crackers
4 tbsp butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup oats
3/4 cup M&Ms
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper and grease well.  Set aside.

2.  In a ziploc bag, crush the graham crackers using a rolling pin.  Once crushed and in pretty uniform pieces, add the 4 tbsp. butter to the bag.  Place in the microwave and heat up for about 30 seconds.  Remove from microwave, let out the air, reseal the bag, and let cool for one minutes.  After cooled "mush" the butter and graham crackers together until fully incorporated.

3.  Press the graham cracker crumbs into an even layer in your 9x13 pan.  Evenly pour the sweetened condensed milk over the graham cracker layer.  Sprinkle the oats, M&Ms, chocolate chips, and peanut chips evenly over the sweetened condensed milk and gently press in a little.

4.  Bake for 30 minutes or until browned and pulling away from the edges.  Let cool and serve.  Enjoy!

Source: slightly adapted from Something Swanky