These festive Peppermint Magic Bars are truly a delicious and super easy to make cookie treat.
With layers of chocolate cookie crust, chocolate chips, peppermint bark, coconut, and almonds, your taste buds are in for a yummy holiday treat.
I’ve been on quite the peppermint kick lately
I know it’s the holidays, and that always makes me want peppermint and chocolate, especially a peppermint mocha. But, it’s even more than that this year.
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I’m drinking peppermint tea. I have peppermint pretzels in the house.
I’ve made Peppermint Crunch Ice Cream, Peppermint Mocha Candy Cookies, recently. Oh and those Peppermint Brownie Sandwich Cookies.
Yes, it’s all things peppermint around here right now. So, why not bring you another minty fabulous dessert treat.
Magic Bars by any other name, taste just as sweet
You’ve seen those Magic Bars. They’ve been around for years. I’m sure that the Sweetened Condensed Milk company came up with those magic bars many many years ago in order to sell more of their canned milk (which is so delicious anyway!).
And, maybe you know the magic bars by another name. I’ve also seen them called 7 layer bars and Hello Dolly Bars.
Personal story, I used to go to a bakery in the next county over to buy Hello Dolly Bars. They had the BEST ones for sale at this little bakery. Theirs were big and thick. Mmmm, so good!
A festive update to a classic treat
But I digress. Well, I thought, why not take these magic bars and give them a festive update. Thus, peppermint Magic Bars were born!
And, let me tell you, I’m super happy with the festive update for the Peppermint Magic Bars. They have a nice peppermint flavor that isn’t overwhelming. They’re nice and rich with chocolate flavors and that coconut gives a nice chew to the bars. They are the perfect balance of yummy holiday flavors.
Other treats that use peppermint extract
Peppermint Mocha Candy Cookies
Peppermint Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies
Chocolate and Peppermint Covered Pretzel Crisps
Peppermint Bark
This time of year it should be fairly easy to find peppermint bark chunks at the store.
I found some on a holiday themed end-cap at my grocery store.
I also saw several different options to buy peppermint bark, which you could easily chop up into chunks.
How do I crush the candies?
You could also use candy canes for the candies. Especially if you have a bunch of candy canes leftover.
To crush the candies, place them, or the candy canes, in a plastic zip top bag. Seal the bag. Place the bag with the candies on a wooden cutting board. And, with the bottom of a sturdy metal measuring cup, the bottom part of the handle of a metal ice cream scoop, or a flat meat pounder, smash the heck out of the candies in the bag.
And, it’s way cheaper than therapy to smash those little candies!
The photo above: – cookie crust, chocolate chips, and peppermint bark
The photo above – coconut and almonds added
The photo above – top with Sweetened Condensed Milk
The photo above – Just out of the oven
Other Recipe Notes
For the cookie crust I used Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers. I like that they are just the chocolate cookie, and none of the white filling like in sandwich cookies.
Take the cookies and drop them into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse several times (this parts really fun!). Until the cookies are all crushed and uniform in size. It won’t take the whole package to make the 1 & 1/2 cups that are needed for the recipe. Save the remaining crumbs for another recipe, or for if you make this one again.
Kitchen items you may need for this recipe
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Peppermint Magic Bars Recipe
Peppermint Magic Bars
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter 1 stick
- ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1 ½ cups crushed chocolate cookies
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- ½ cup peppermint bark chunks
- 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
- ½ cup slivered almonds
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk 1 can
- Crushed candy canes or peppermint candies for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 ° F.
- Melt butter in a medium microwave safe dish in the microwave. Stir the peppermint extract into the melted butter, and stir in crushed chocolate cookies until thoroughly combined. Press into the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking pan to form the crust. Make sure the crust is spread flat and evenly.
- Sprinkle remaining ingredients one by one over the crust to form layers, beginning with the chocolate chips, followed by the peppermint bark, coconut, and almonds. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the top, and spread with a spatula to make sure it's evenly distributed.
- Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until edges are golden brown and the middle is set.
- Allow to cool completely before garnishing with crushed peppermint candies and slicing into bars.
Recipe Notes
Makes about 24 bars.
Jersey Girl Cooks says
Yummy bars that are perfect to leave for Santa!
Liren | Kitchen Confidante says
I can see why they’re “magic” bars!! They would disappear so fast!
Toni says
I love how simple this is to make!!
Julie says
These bars sound delicious and that peppermint tea would be the perfect accompaniment!