Christmas goody bars have a chocolate fudge center with a sweet n' salty oatmeal pecan crust. Made super festive with red & green m&m's! These will steal the show on your Christmas cookie plate or at a cookie exchange.
post updated November 2017
These chocolate fudge Christmas goody bars are the perfect thing for a cookie exchange, holiday party, or just as a festive treat for friends & neighbors. They are really simple to make that even my kids can do most of it themselves. Not the stove top part but the mixing and pressing part is a kid safe chore 🙂
Everything mixes in one bowl only! Combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, salt, and pecans. Drizzle melted butter over it and mix until everything is combined. Save some of the crust for the top and press the remaining into a baking dish.
Melt the chocolate and condensed milk together on the stove top and then pour over the crust. Top with the reserved crust and the red & green Christmas M&M candies.
I am a sucker for anything with sweetened condensed milk. I always don't scrape it all out of the can, so that way I can take some finger licks 🙂 Seriously, that stuff is like gold in a can!
I love the sweet & salty crust on the bottom and top with the soft chocolate fudge center. These really are so rich and delicious. Cut into smaller squares because they are pretty rich. Not too sweet and rich but just right.
Don't you just love the festive red & green?! I think they are so pretty and festive too. I love baking treats that match the Holiday colors. It just makes things taste better when they look like Christmas, right?! 🙂
Go get yourself a bag of the Christmas mix of mini m&m's. You'll find them by the Christmas candy and baking supplies. I always find mine at Target with all the other Christmas stuff.
I will warn that these won't look completely set and done when the 25 minute cook time is up. That is exactly how you want it. Trust me! Take them out and let them sit for an hour. I promise you that they will set up perfectly.
Be sure to also line your baking dish with parchment paper. It makes it so easy to pull these bars out of the pan to cut into squares. You don't have to do this but I think it makes things easier. Enjoy friends.
Christmas Goody Bars
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups quick cooking oats
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup 2 sticks butter, melted
- 1 can 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup Christmas mini m&m's
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x13 baking dish or line with parchment paper.
- In large bowl, mix together oats, flour, brown sugar, pecans, salt, and melted butter. Stir together until combined and crumbly. Remove 1 cup and reserve for later. Press remaining into baking pan.
- In saucepan over medium heat, stir the condensed milk, 2 tablespoons butter, and 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips until smooth and melted. Pour over the crust in pan. Sprinkle with the reserved mix and the m&m's. Press down lightly.
- Bake for 25 minutes. They will look like they're not done, but will set up very nicely after they cool.
- Let cool for 1-2 hours before cutting. Store leftovers covered at room temperature.
In reading over your December 2, Christmas Goody Bars, recipe, I cannot find in the instructions where you put the pecans. Is it at the beginning when you make the crumbly crust or is it in during the second part when you heat the condensed milk mixture?
Hi Denise! Thank you SO MUCH for catching that. It's at the beginning before you reserve the 1 cup. So sorry for the confusion, I have fixed it in the recipe. Thanks again 🙂
Your cookie posts always make me soooo hungry! You make delicious looking cookies and bars!
thanks Carlee 🙂 so sweet of you
These bars look delicious! Thanks for linking up with What's Cookin' Wednesday!
what can you use as a substitute for pecans due to nut allergies?
I would just not add them. The bars will be sweeter because they won't have that sweet & salty thing going on, but they'll still turn out just fine without the nuts.
Something is missing- when you put the dry ingredients together and add melted butter- how much? The 2 tablespoon sugar is used later- so you missed something.
Meant the 2T butter is used later(not sugar).
So sorry! Thank you for catching that. You will need 1 cup (2 sticks) melted butter for the flour & sugar mixture. The additional 2 tablespoons is for the saucepan mixture with the condensed milk. Hopefully that clears it up. I'll fix it when I'm on my desktop ?
Could I use regular size M&M's?
Yes, you can 🙂 Enjoy!
Can you freeze these and not lose the fresh taste?
I've never frozen these so I'm not sure. You could always try freezing one square to test it ?
This is a wonderful recipe. I made them last year to give away and they were devoured quickly. So pretty with the Christmas M & M's. Oatmeal makes everything better in my opinion.
Tasty recipe. I however am going to change up a bit and drizzle chocolate on top to hold the m&m's down as they fall off. Nothing is holding them down.
That would work! Try gently pressing down the m&m's when you add them on top of the bars before baking. That should help.
These were very good! I might try adding a little peanut butter to the recipe next time.