We have so many end of year celebrations on our calendar at the moment – an end of school morning tea, Christmas carols picnic, dance school breakup, just to name a few. As each event requires us to bring a plate, I have been looking for ideas for new recipes for take along foods. I also need to share the workload too, so they have to be recipes that Bear and Bee can help me with.
When I saw the recipe for Loaded M&M Oreo Cookie Bars on the Averie Cooks blog I was inspired. And so was Bee as she adores Oreo biscuits. I made a few tweaks to the recipe and swapped things out to suit our Australian metric measuring cups (head over to the original recipe for US measurements). 
This is a great recipe to experiment with. As long as you keep the base ingredients the same, you can use whatever add ins you like. Don’t like Oreos? Use your favourite icing filled biscuits. Don’t have M&Ms? Use choc bits or chopped cooking chocolate. Add broken pretzels for a salty crunch. And these Cookie Bars are perfect for when you need to take a plate as the bars look so fabulously festive.
Christmas Cookie Bars
Serves 12 to 16 squares depending on size
You will need:
- ½ cup unsalted butter (125g), melted and cooled
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 cup raw sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup plain (all purpose) flour
- 180g Oreo cookies (approx. 18), roughly chopped
- ½ cup M&Ms – Christmas coloured ones if you can get them
To make:
1. Preheat oven to 175˚C.
2. Line a 20cm square baking tin with aluminium foil and spray with a cooking spray.
3. Place cooled butter, egg, sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and stir until smooth.
4. Stir in the flour. Only mix until it is just combined. You don’t want to overdo it.
5. Add the Oreos and half of the M&Ms and stir until mixed in. Keep the other half of the M&Ms aside to decorate the top of the bars.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin. Use a spatula to push the batter into the corners of the tin and smooth the top.
7. Sprinkle the Oreo pieces and M&Ms you kept back over the top of the bars.
8. Bake for approximately 18 to 20 minutes or until the top is set in the middle. If you can find a spot with just batter test with a skewer to see if the bars are cooked. If the skewer comes out clean you know the bars are done. The bars will become more firm as they cool.
9. Cool the tin on a wire rack.
10. Slice into squares for serving.
Enjoy!
Your might also like to try our great take-to-share Angel Cupcakes!
Maree Mortimer is mum to 5 year old twin girls who love to cook. After working as a secondary Home Economics teacher and a teacher librarian in primary and secondary schools, she took time off to raise her daughters. Maree believes that as food and cooking are essential for a healthy life, parents need to be encouraged to cook with their children as much as possible. You'll often find her family spending time together in the kitchen - re-connecting over food and trying out new recipes and ingredients.
