Make this easy Magic Cookie Bars recipe with a cake mix, M&Ms, and sweetened condensed milk. The flavor combinations and colors are endless!
You can make magic bars any time of the year by using different colors or flavors of M&Ms and sprinkles! Use pink for Valentine’s Day or red and green for Christmas. Or swap out the ingredients to make other flavors, including shredded coconut or nuts.
How To Make Magic Cookie Bars
Use a hand mixer or stand mixer to combine the cake mix, egg, softened butter, and red food coloring.
Press the batter into a 9×13-inch pan lined with greased parchment paper or foil.
Top the cake mix layer with white chocolate chips and Valentine’s Day M&Ms.
Drizzle Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk over the top and spread it out if necessary. Then, top it with sprinkles.
Bake the magic cookie bars at 325˚F for 22-25 minutes. Allow the bars to cool completely, and then cut them into squares.
Variations
Samoas Cookie Bars
Girl Scouts Samoas Cookies are wildly popular, and you can make a copycat version using this cake mix cookie bar recipe!
- Skip adding the red food coloring to the cake mix.
- Spread 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips over the crust in an even layer.
- Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk over the top.
- Sprinkle with 1 1/2 cups of shredded coconut.
- Bake at 350˚F for 22-25 minutes.
7 Layer Cookie Bars
Seven layer cookie bars are similar to the samoas bars but with additional layers.
- Don’t add the red food coloring to the cake mix.
- Spread 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips over the crust layer, followed by 1 cup of butterscotch chips and 1 cup of chopped walnuts.
- Drizzle sweetened condensed milk over the top.
- Sprinkle with 1 1/2 cups of shredded coconut.
- Bake at 350˚F for 22-25 minutes.
Storage
- Fridge: Store the cooled bars in an airtight container, with parchment paper between the layers, in the fridge for up to a week.
- Freezer: Place the bars in a freezer-safe, airtight container with parchment paper between layers. Freeze for up to two months.
Similar Recipes
- Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Bars are a family favorite!
- Chocolate Mint M&M Bars are perfect for mint lovers.
- These Apple Bars are made with a spice cake mix and diced apples!
Magic Cookie Bars
Equipment
Ingredients
- 15.25 oz white cake mix
- ½ cup butter softened
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon red gel food coloring optional
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 10 oz M&Ms any color
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 2 tablespoons sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F.
- Mix together the cake mix, butter, egg, and red food coloring until combined. Press into a parchment (or foil) lined and greased 9×13-inch pan.
- Top with white chocolate chips and M&Ms. Drizzle with sweetened condensed milk and top with sprinkles.
- Bake at 350˚F for 22-25 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars.
Video
Stacey says
Hi! I have made these twice now, even tho the flavor is awesome, it seems my cake mix crust is rising above the mm’s and chips and it doesn’t look as nice as yours pictured.
is there something i am doing wrong?
they only variance i did was used yellow cake mix instead of white.
Erin @ Making Memories says
I just pulled these out of the oven and I don’t know if I can wait until they cool. They look amazing! Thank you so much!!!
Tonia says
Fantastic! I’m so happy to hear that!
Lindsay says
These look great! I’m actually going to make them this week but use the “Candy Corn” Halloween M&Ms. They are white chocolate but just colored orange, yellow, and white. Thanks for the inspiration!
Tonia says
Ohhh…I love Candy Corn M&M’s! Enjoy!
Rvpgirl says
I made these for Valentine’s Day and loved them, so today I used Easter colored M&M’s and made more! I also tried lining the pan with parchment paper instead of foil. I still sprayed it just to be safe, but they didn’t stick at all and the paper pulled right off in one piece. Thanks for the recipe!
Tonia says
Great idea! I will have to try that next time!
mandasara says
Just made these for Valentine’s day and everyone loved them. The recipe was so easy and once they cooled down and hardened a bit they were easy to cut into bars. They are delicious!
DD says
Do you bake the cake first?
Tonia L says
Hi DD! Nope you just combine the cake mix, egg and butter and pat it into the bottom of the pan. Then, add the rest of the ingredients to the top and bake! Isn’t that great? That is why others call them magic bars!
Mari Graulau says
I made these this morning for a gathering later this afternoon. Fingers crossed that they turned out good. Hoping I didn’t leave them in the oven too long. What should they look like when they come out? Do you allow them to cool completely in the pan before cutting? Very silly questions but I am a bit of a perfectionist when I bake, just want to make sure I am doing it right. Thanks for the yummy looking recipe!
Tonia L says
Thank Mari! Your email address isn’t enabled for replies. I added a response to your great questions to the post in case others are wondering the same thing. Thanks for asking!
kristi@ishouldbemoppingthefloor says
These look awesome! I so wish our school allowed homemade goodies for parties…these would be perfect!! Guess I’ll have to make them for ourselves! 🙂
Tonia L says
I know! I understand why they don’t allow it but it really is too bad!
Ginger says
Those look so yummy, and I love anything with chocolate in it. Yum! 🙂
Tonia L says
I am with you! Thanks Ginger!
Jessica Kielman says
I am so making these with Kate this week!
Tonia L says
Kate will be delighted!!
Ali @ JamHands.net says
Awww that is adorable 🙂 Perfect for Valentine’s Day.If you don’t mind I wanted to invite you to come link up at Recipe Sharing Monday and share your favorite recipes. Have a super week. 🙂
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust says
Tonia these are awesome! I love love love the cake mix crust and those M&Ms are my favorites. 🙂
Tonia L says
Thanks Dorothy…I guess you are a bad influence on me ;)! My friend let me know she made these and served them to her guests and they loved them!
M.J. Powell says
Hi,These look so good. You have a nice blog. We are hosting our first party. We would like to invite you to link up and party with us.Thanks!!The Busy Bee’s,Myrna and Joye.http://thebusybhive.blogspot.com/
Christina at I Gotta Create! says
Tonia these look heavenly! I just pinned them 🙂
Vanessa says
Yum, I love anything with white chocolate in it. I’ve got a major sweet tooth.
Shannah @ Just Us Four says
Yum! These look absolutely delicious!
OneSpecialDeeDee says
could you make this without the M & M’s? or do the M & M’s get softer? this is my concern.so my question is do the m & m’s soften so that its not to crunchy?
Tonia L says
Hi DeeDee! Yes, you can make it without M&Ms but I would put something else on instead like another kind of baking chips, cookie pieces, chopped up candy bars, pretzel bits or nuts. I’m not sure if the M&Ms soften but the bars were definitely not too crunchy. Even my 18 month old nephew ate one of the bars without any problems. Another option would be to add less M&Ms! I hope you enjoy them as much as we did! 🙂
OneSpecialDeeDee says
THANKS.. I wish the baking chip people would add more Holiday colored baking morsels like M & M’s do.Maybe I could use vanilla and chocolate chip chips…..or I just might make it your way and see how they come out.
Stacey says
ME TOO!!!!!!
Anne @ Domesblissity says
Oh my Tonia! Why did I have to go and look at this. Amazing. It’s on the list. What’s this? People are stealing your content? How damn rude! Hope that comes to an end.Anne xx
Tonia L says
Thanks Anne! I should’ve been more specific in my description. Although I’ve found my content on another site in the past it isn’t happening right now as far as I know. The problem is that when the full content is in the RSS Feed, scraper can redirect the entire feed to their own website. This happened to me and it took hours of work to figure it out. In the end, the person owning the other website said it was a mistake and took everything down. Anyway, I just found a tutorial about how to keep this from happening again so I put it to good use!
thepaintedapron.com says
YUMMMMMMM…making something with Valentine M&Ms is on my to do list for Feb, this looks perfect! I love all the cookie bars with sweetened condensed milk! Thanks!Jenna
Tonia L says
Thanks Jenna!