Halloween goody bars are a quick and easy treat that are perfect for a Halloween party, or school celebration. While they are known for the colorful fall-themed candy pieces used in the recipe, you can adjust the colors you use to make these Halloween cookie bars year-round.
About Halloween Goody Bars
I found this recipe in a Betty Crocker cookbook and was so excited when I saw the name. I figured that it was the perfect way to use up all of the candy bars leftover from Halloween. But then I looked through the recipe and realized that the name is a little misleading. I think it’s really more of a festive fall treat because it uses orange and brown M&Ms. But that’s OK, it just makes the recipe easy to adapt to use for any holiday. Use pink M&Ms for Valentine’s Day, or red and green for Christmas.
I like these Halloween cookies for a number of reasons. First, they are super easy to make, and they don’t require any special equipment. All you need is a large bowl and a 2-quart saucepan. You don’t need an electric stand mixer, or hand mixer, for this recipe.
Another reason why I like this recipe is because I can whip it up at a moment’s notice. There are no eggs or butter that need to be brought to room temperature. It takes just a few ingredients, and you can modify it to use your favorite candy bar as the star ingredient.
Overview of the Key Ingredients
Here’s a look at the ingredients for this recipe. You’ll see that there aren’t many, which helps make it so easy.
Butter: This recipe uses unsalted butter. One cup butter is melted and mixed with the oat mixture to help bind the dry ingredients together. The butter adds richness and flavor to the recipe. I like to minimize dishes, so I use the same saucepan for melting the butter as I do to make the chocolate mixture. Just melt the butter over medium heat, add to bowl to mix oats and all-purpose flour together, then use the saucepan again for the chocolate mixture.
Brown Sugar: There is no granulated white sugar used in this recipe. Using only brown sugar helps keep the bars soft and chewy.
Sweetened Condensed Milk: Make sure that you use sweetened condensed milk and not evaporated milk. The two are not interchangeable and the richness of the condensed milk adds so much flavor to the cookies.
Oats: The original recipe calls for using quick-cooking oats, but if you have old fashioned oats on hand, you can use those instead. I always use old-fashioned oats in place of quick-cooking oats in recipes because it’s what I keep in my pantry. The cookie will taste the same, but the texture may be slightly different. It’s really just a personal preference.
Pecans: These cookies are made with 1 cup chopped pecans. Toasting the pecans is definitely optional, but something I recommend. It’s super easy to do, and it brings out the flavor of the pecans. One quick tip is to put the pecans in the oven while it is preheating. That way it won’t add any extra time to the prep time. Multi-tasking at its best, just heat oven and toast pecans while it comes to temp. It may just take a couple extra minutes after it comes to temperature, it really just depends upon your oven.
Semi-sweet chocolate chips: This cookie is a layered bar. The oat mixture is on the bottom, then a gooey chocolate layer in the middle. Finally, it’s topped with more of the oat mixture and the chocolate candies. You can substitute milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or any chocolate you choose. You just need 1 cup, or 6 oz of chocolate.
Substitutions and Modifications
As I mentioned above, it’s easy to modify these bars so that they can be used year-round for any holiday. Use red and green M&Ms and they become great holiday gifts at Christmas. Since these are made in a 13 x9-inch pan, you can cut them into small squares to get even more cookies out of each batch.
If you don’t have any M&M’s on hand, another option is to use semisweet chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or any chopped chocolate on top. Have extra Hershey milk chocolate bars? Cut those up and they make a great addition to the cookie. This is where you really can turn these into leftover Halloween candy cookie bars.
You can use chopped up Reese’s peanut butter cups, Reese’s pieces, Milk Way bars, or whatever candy you’d like. All of these types of candy bars will almost melt into the gooey, chocolate layer. Giving you the added flavor of caramel, peanut butter, or whatever flavor, you go with. For crunchier candies like Kit Kats, those won’t melt but they’ll add a nice crunchy texture to the cookie.
Halloween Goody Bars
Equipment
- 9×13 Baking pan
- Large bowl
- 2-quart saucepan
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 T butter
- 3/4 cup orange and brown candy-coated chocolate candies
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Grease 9"x13" pan with non-stick cooking spray, butter, or shortening.
- In a large bowl, mix together oats, flour, brown sugar, and salt.
- In a 2-quart saucepan, melt 1 cup butter over medium heat until just melted.
- Pour the 1 cup melted butter over oat mixture and mix with a spoon.
- Stir in pecans.
- Remove 1 cup of the mixture and set aside. Press remaining mixture into the pan.
- In a 2-quart saucepan, cook sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, and 2 tablespoons butter over medium hear. Stir constantly until chocolate chips are melted and mixture is smooth.
- Spread chocolate mixture over the crust.
- Top with reserved oat mixture and sprinkle with candies. Gently press into chocolate mixture.
- Bake for 23-25 minutes, or until set.
- Cool completely before cutting.
Notes
- For added flavor, toast pecans in a 350 degree oven for 7-10 minutes. Stir half-way through. Your nose is your best tool for telling when the pecans are done, as the nuts become aromatic as they toast.
- You can use old fashioned oats instead of quick-cooking oats if you prefer.
Q&A For Making Goody Bars
This is a really easy recipe, but here are some questions you may have about how to make the best Halloween goody bars.
What can I use if I don’t have cooking spray?
If you don’t have cooking spray on hand, there are a couple of options. You need a greased pan so that the cookies don’t stick, but you can use butter or shortening instead of cooking spray. I like shortening because it’s easy to use a paper towel, to spread a thin layer of shortening onto the bottom and sides of the pan. Alternatively, you could line the pan with parchment paper. If you use parchment paper, I recommend making the parchment paper go up the sides on the short end so that you can use them as handles to lift the bars out of the baking pan before cutting them up.
How should I store the Halloween Goody Bars?
The best way to store the bars is in an airtight container. I prefer to cut them into squares as needed, rather than cutting up all of the cookies at once. I feel that this method keeps the cookies from drying out and they will last longer. If I make them the day before I need them for a party, I’ll wait until that day to cut them up.
I hope you enjoy making these Halloween goody bars. They are chewy chocolate cookies, with the added texture and crunch you get from the oats and candy. They are a great way to celebrate any holiday. A simple recipe that doesn’t take long to make and is enjoyed by all. Halloween may be the time for a spooky treat, but there are no tricks, just treats with this recipe!
More recipes to use with leftover Halloween candy:
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