Easter M and M Bars are the perfect decadent dessert to bring to your Easter celebration. Stuffed with festive and colorful Easter M&’s, and adorable sprinkles, these rich cookie bars will bring a smile to everyone’s face and excitement to their belly.
You can’t go wrong making these easy cookie dessert bars. They’re perfect for feeding a crowd of both kids and adults alike. These bars are loaded with some delicious Easter goodies and can quickly become addictive!
Step-by-step instructions plus photos see below!
Why You’ll Love These Easter M&M Cookie Bars
- Great way to get kids involved in the kitchen baking magic cookie bars
- Fun way to use up extra Easter candy
- Festive beautiful way to brighten up the dessert table
- Easy make ahead dessert idea
- No need to roll out the dough with a rolling pin or scoop it out with a cookie scooper like you do with some cookies from scratch
If you love recipes like this, you may also enjoy this Brookie Cookie Recipe.
Ingredients Needed
- Butter- I prefer unsalted sweet cream butter that has been softened so
- Brown Sugar- I use light brown and pack it in the measuring cup
- Sugar- white granulated sugar
- Eggs- 2 large eggs
- Vanilla extract- I prefer to use pure vanilla extract
- Baking soda- ensure that you use fresh baking soda
- Baking powder- ensure that you use fresh baking powder for the best results
- Kosher salt
- Flour – All Purpose flour
- Easter M&M’s- you can also use a mix of peanut M&M and traditional ones
- Easter Sprinkles
How to Make Easter M&M Bars
The complete list of ingredients, quantities, and directions can be found in the printable recipe card below!
Step One: Start by preheating the oven to 350F and spraying your metal baking dish with baking spray.
Step Two: Beat together the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg, and vanilla with a hand mixer until well combined.
Step Three: Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
Step Four: Slowly and carefully, whisk in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until well combined.
Step Five: Next, fold in 1 cup of M&M’s and sprinkles.
Step Six: Press the formed dough into the greased baking dish and sprinkle the rest of the M&M’s on top.
Step Seven: Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until it turns light brown.
Step Eight: Remove the cookie bars from the oven and allow to cool completely before using a knife to cut them into bars.
Storage
Once you’ve made your Easter M&M Magic Cookie Bars, let them cool. Then you can store them in an airtight container and leave them on the counter. They should stay fresh for 4-5 days- that is, if they last that long.
Normally when I make these magic Easter M and M Bars, they don’t last longer than the day I make them.
If you make an extra batch and want to freeze them for later, just let them cool then toss them in a freezer safe container or bag and freeze. If using a container, place parchment paper in between the layers so they don’t all freeze together in one big clump.
When you want to eat them again, remove them from the freezer and set the bag or container on the counter and let them thaw and come to room temperature. Once they’ve come up to temperature, snack away!
Tips
- Don’t go too heavy on the chocolate’s and sprinkles and other add-ins as this can cause the middle of the bars to not bake evenly.
- If you’re thawing frozen treats, don’t microwave them- this would cause chocolates to melt and give you a weird texture.
- You can also choose to line your baking pan with foil to help remove the bars easier when you want to cut and serve them. You’ll still want to use nonstick baking spray though.
- If choosing to line the pan, line the pan with foil instead of parchment paper because the dough doesn’t want to stick to the paper as well and may leave holes or uneven spots in the cookie bars.
- Choose a metal baking pan for these Easter M&M’s Cookies as they bake more evenly with this recipe than glass baking pans do.
Substitutions and Additions
You can add some other fun ideas to your Easter M&M Bars. While the list is endless, here are some of our favorite ideas: butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips, more chocolate chips or M&M’s, graham cracker crumbles, or mini marshmallows.
You can also swap out the extract for other flavors, but I will say the vanilla is my absolute favorite and really enhances these Easter Bars.
FAQs
Cookie bars can also be called magic bars or bar cookies. They’re usually made from stiff dough that’s pressed into a baking dish, then baked and cooled before being cut into shapes like sqares, rectangles or diamonds. They can be various sizes, have multiple or one layer and have various textures, like chewy, cake like or crunchy.
Depending on the texture of the cookie bar you’re going for will help determine what it should look like when it’s finished baking. Use a wooden toothpick and once you’ve stuck it in the center and pulled it back out, if it comes out with only a few crumbs, they’re done. Chewier bars will have a dull surface too.
Some of our favorite dessert recipes
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Easter M and M Bars
Ingredients
- 1 Cup unsalted sweet cream butter softened
- 1 Cup light brown sugar packed
- ½ Cup sugar
- 2 eggs large
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 ½ Cup flour
- 2 Cups Easter M&M’s a mix of peanut M&M and traditional
- 1 Cup Easter Sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9×13 baking dish with non stick baking spray
- Using a hand mixer, beat together the butter, brown sugar, sugar,
- eggs and vanilla until combined
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until combined
- Gradually whisk in the dry ingredients into the wet until combined
- Fold in 1 C M&M’s and Sprinkles
- Press the dough into the baking dish
- Sprinkle the remaining M&M’s on top
- Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until lightly brown
- Remove and allow to cool completely before cutting into bars
Equipment
- Baking Spray
- Metal Baking Dish
Nutrition Information
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