This is another variation of a Betty Crocker Cookie Bar recipe I first tried last fall (I also did one as a Parfait! recipe using Kit Kat Bars).
For this version, I started with Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix, again made my own Sweetened Condensed Milk (don’t worry, the recipe is included), but then used Butterfinger Bites and Reese’s Mini Peanut Butter Cups in place of Snickers Fun Size and M&M’s candies for the topping t make one very nice cookie bar.
INGREDIENTS
•1 (1 lb 1.5 oz) bag chocolate chip cookie mix
•1/3 cup butter, softened*
•1 egg
•1/2 cup canned sweetened condensed milk
•1 cup + 2 tbsp finely chopped Butterfinger Bites candies
•1/2 cup chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups Minis
No Sweetened Condensed Milk? No Problem! All you’ll need is:
•1 cup nonfat dry milk
•2/3 cup sugar
•3 tbsp melted butter
•1/2 cup boiling water
•1/2 tsp vanilla
Pour the boiling water into a blender jar, then add the dry milk, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla.
Note: to chop the candies, I used my mini food processor fitted with the metal blade.
Cover and blend on high for half a minute.
Store any leftovers covered in the fridge.
Heat your oven to 350º.
Note: you could spray your eight inch square baking pan with cooking spray, but, it is so much easier to simply line the pan with foil – leaving a good overhang, tucking it tightly into the corners. This will make lifting the baked cookie bars out of the pan a snap, and so, cutting them into neat squares will also be much simpler.
Ermmm, I also bought a metal baking pan, just for recipes like this, which gives me slightly crisper corners than the more usual glass eight inch square pans.
Whisk the egg lightly, then stir in the cookie mix and the softened butter until you have a soft dough.
Press two thirds of the dough into the prepared baking pan and pop into the oven for 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the partially baked cookie dough.
Sprinkle the Butterfinger Bites evenly over the top of the dough, then crumble the remaining cookie dough over the top.
Sprinkle the chopped Reese’s Minis evenly over the top, then return to the oven for 23 to 28 minutes, until the top is set and nicely brown.
Note: if you have one handy, Trader Joe’s makes a killer dark chocolate peanut butter cup which would be awesome here.
Remove from the oven and cool for at least three hours.
And… here’s where foil lining that pan is such a very good thing!
Once the bars have cooled, simply lift them out of the pan using the overhanging foil, then set the whole shebang on a cutting board and slice into 16 very tasty cookie bars.
A little crispity crunch, a little ooey gooey goodness; all totally yummers!
Enjoy!