Magic Bars are the perfect last-minute treat because they are so easy to make. These cookies and cream Halloween Magic Bars are filled with OREO Cookies, chocolate chips, and orange chips. Their orange and black color is perfect for Halloween.
Have you ever tried a magic cookie bar? They are gooey bars of goodness held together by caramelized sweetened condensed milk.
You simply layer ingredients like, in this case, OREO Cookies and Halloween chocolate chips together in a baking pan with a can of sweetened condensed milk and bake. That's it! Making Halloween Magic Bars couldn't be easier.
The magic happens when the heat from the oven caramelizes the creamy milk. It glues everything together in one crunchy, chewy, chocolaty bar.
There are endless ingredient variations to use when making Magic Bars.
I've also shared recipes for Chocolate Magic Bars layered with a chocolate cookie cake crust, peanuts, Reese's Pieces, and a chocolate peanut butter glaze and Candy Corn Magic Bars layered with a Nutter Butter Cookie crust, peanut butter, candy corn, and Reese's Pieces. They are all perfect cookies for Halloween.
Let's get baking and make these orange and black cookies.
This recipe was originally published on October 1, 2013.
Ingredients
Oreo Cookies - You can use plain Oreos for the crust or you can use Halloween Oreos. Either will work fine.
unsalted butter
sweetened condensed milk - This is sweetened milk that is cooked until thick. It bakes into gooey caramel. Do not substitute condensed milk. That is too thin and has no sugar in it.
Halloween Oreo Cookies with orange filling
Nestle Halloween Semi-Sweet Chocolate and Orange-Colored Morsels - If you can't find the Halloween chips you can use semi-sweet chocolate chips and Orange Candy Melts. Just cut the candy melts in quarters before sprinkling them onto the cookie bars.
Supplies
9x13-inch baking pan
non-stick tin foil or tin foil that is sprayed with baking spray
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line a 9-inch by 13-inch baking pan with non-stick aluminum foil.
- Mix the Oreo crumbs with melted butter and press it into the bottom of the pan.
- Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the crust.
- Sprinkle on pieces of Halloween Oreos and half of the Halloween morsels.
- Bake for 25-28 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle on the reserved half of the bag of Halloween morsels.
- Return to the oven for about 5 more minutes until the chips melt slightly and until the sweetened condensed milk turns golden brown and the bars appear set around the edges.
- The center will still be just a bit jiggly, but it will harden as it cools.
- Cool completely for at least one hour before cutting into 24 to 30 bars.
Tips
- If your sweetened condensed milk still looks white and really soft in the middle of the pan, you can use tin foil to cover the edges of the bars and bake for 3-6 more minutes.
- Now that I've made many batches of magic bars, I have found that on occasion I have to use this trick.
Storage
Store these cookies and cream bars in an airtight container for up to 5 days. You can also freeze them in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Variations
You can use white chocolate chips instead of orange chips to make OREO Cookie Bars. They are perfect for any day.
These Chocolate Magic Bars are topped with orange Reese's Pieces. They'd be great to serve for Halloween too!
Related Recipes
You might also like these other OREO Halloween recipes.
Be sure to check out all the Halloween recipes here on Hungry Happenings.
Recipe
Layers of Halloween Oreo Cookies and Halloween chocolate chips with gooey caramelized sweetened condensed milk.
- 36 Oreo Cookies, crushed into fine crumbs
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 (14 ounce can) sweetened condensed milk
- 14 Halloween Oreo Cookies broken into small pieces not crumbs
- 1 11 ounce bag of Nestle Halloween Semi-Sweet Chocolate and Orange Colored Morsels (or semi-sweet chocolate chips and Orange Candy Melts cut into quarters)
-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
-
Line a 9 inch by 13 inch baking pan with non-stick aluminum foil.
-
Mix the Oreo crumbs with melted butter and press it into the bottom of the pan.
-
Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the crust.
-
Sprinkle on pieces of Halloween Oreos and half of the Halloween morsels.
-
Bake for 25-28 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle on the reserved half a bag of Halloween morsels.
-
Return to the oven for about 5 more minutes until the chips melt slightly and until the sweetened condensed milk turns golden brown and the bars appear set around the edges..
-
The center will still be slightly jiggly but should not look really wet. You bars will harden as they cool.
-
Cool completely for at least one hour before cutting into 24 to 30 bars.
- If your sweetened condensed milk still looks white and really soft in the middle of the pan, you can use tin foil to cover the edges of the bars and bake for 3-6 more minutes.
- Now that I've made many batches of magic bars, I have found that on occasion I have to use this trick.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
- You can wrap the bars well in wax paper then place in a large zip-top bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
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Anonymous says
Congrats on the show. That gives me more bragging rights. You go girl. Trish Butler
beth says
Thank you Trish. It's always fun to do the show.
Tara Lotufo says
These bars look AMAZINGGGGGG!!!
beth says
Thanks, Tara. I really love the flavor of these bars and have made them several times already.
Sue says
These look so gooey GOOD! Great job, Beth!
Brittany says
I just made these for a pot luck at work tomorrow, and they are so good! Do they need to be refrigerated? I didn't see that info anywhere?
beth says
Oh, so sorry to have missed your comment when you made it. You don't need to refrigerate the bars. I hope everyone enjoyed them!
Anonymous says
Would enjoy having a printable recipe link. I'm not one that wants to follow a blog on my counter top.
beth says
I need to look into that. Usually my projects aren't just regular recipes and the step by step pictures are important, but this is just a simple recipe and a printable link would be great.
Mummy KnowsReviews says
So I tried to make this and it was a MAJOR FAIL!!!! http://www.mummyknowsreviews.com/2013/10/my-pinterest-nailed-it-moment.html
Here you can see it how it turned out, I did see that you needed a total of 40 Cookies lol so I did not use enough for the crust.
beth says
My goodness, I just looked at your pictures and I have no idea why your cookie bars turned out black like that. It's as if your crust bubbled up through the cookies and everything else sunk down. Yes, there are 30 regular Oreo cookies in the crust and 10 Halloween Oreo's broken up on top, which is where a lot of the orange color comes from. If you didn't use the Halloween Oreo's you wouldn't have nearly as much orange on top. I hope they at least tasted good.
Jen Nikolaus says
Second time tonight that I randomly clicked over to your blog from a link party - your recipes are too awesome! I love these magic bars! I can't wait to try them, pinning now!
beth says
That's nice to hear. I'm glad my pictures grabbed your attention. I really appreciate the pins.
Carolyn says
I just wanted to let you know that I featured your wonderful project on homework. Thanks so much for sharing it on The Inspiration Board. Have a great weekend!
carolyn
homework &
DETAILS
beth says
Thanks so much, Carolyn. I'm so happy you like these Halloween Magic Bars enough to feature them! I hope you have a wonderful weekend too.
Mackenzie says
Beth- these look awesome and sound delicious too! I love the bright orange and black together! How fun!
Laura Belleau says
I have never had these either, but they look perfect to make for my Cub Scouts!
beth says
A friend of mine used the recipe to make them for her son's grade school class and they were a huge hit. I hope your Cub Scouts like them too!
Anonymous says
Count me as another one coming out from "under a rock". This is going to really sound nuts... but the oreo crust... are we talking using ALL of the cookie with icing middle included? hahahaha I'ver NEVER made an oreo crust!!!! My guess is just pulsing the cookies in the food processor until a fine crumb. Yes?
beth says
Everyone has to start somewhere! When you make an Oreo crust, just crust the entire cookie into crumbs, filling and all. I think's it's easiest to do that in a food processor, but you can put the cookies in a bag and smash them with a rolling pin or pan. You wont get as fine of crumbs, but it works. I've now made three different magic bars, as the request of family and friends, and these with Oreos are my favorite.
The Bearfoot Baker says
You had me at the Oreos! Gotta try this becuase it look great!!
Alexis Middleton says
These look SO good. And I think they would be a hit with the kids too. I would love if you would link up to the Halloween link party going on now (links shared across 10 blogs!): http://persialou.blogspot.com/2013/10/owl-wreath-and-halloween-project-parade.html
beth says
Thanks for the invite, Alexis. I added a few pictures to the party.
Brenda @ SweetSimpleStuff says
That's funny ... I didn't see you under the rock ... I'm still under it! I have not had a magic/7 layer bar, probably because they usually use coconut (I'm not a coconut lover) ... must try your version!
beth says
LOL! It's nice to know I wasn't alone under that rock:) I love coconut, but know that most people aren't fans, so I don't bake with it often. If I did, I'd have to eat the entire things, as my husband would not help out. I need his help!
anubhavati says
Looks so adorable and lovely!!!
Shobha
beth says
Thank you, Shobha:)
The Partiologist says
Would you believe I had a bag of those Halloween chips in my hot little hand and I put them back!!! EEK - why
did I put them back, now I'll have to go and get them to make these luscious looking bars!!
beth says
EEK, is right. Go back and get them, you wont be sorry. I'm sure you can come up with something amazing even if you don't use this recipe.
Jo and Sue says
I love magic bars and I LOVE how Halloween-y these look. Unfortunately we don't have access to Halloween Oreos OR Halloween Morsels where we live (Booooo). These would perfect for the Halloween bake sale we are holding later this month. 🙂
Great creation!!
beth says
Oh, that's too bad. The orange and black is so fun. You could just use regular Oreos and add orange M&M's or Reese's Pieces to the bars for a pop of color.
Mindy says
Um, I must be under the same rock, 'cause I'm 37 and have never had them either. But, like you, I've seen them EVERYWHERE lately. I had no idea what was so magic about them. I'll have to give your recipe a whirl and see what all the fuss is about.
beth says
I'm so glad to know I'm not alone in my lack of magic in my life. This makes a lot of bars so I shared them with several different friends and they all asked for the recipe. Ya know it's good when that happens.
Robin Buster says
Oreo Cookies make the best crust! This sounds like a must try recipe!
beth says
Oh, I totally agree. I just made another magic bar using Nutter Butters. They are good, but don't even compare to this recipe.
Ciara @teaspoon of Life says
I decided to head over from the homework link party because this just looked so good!
beth says
Hi Ciara, thanks for stopping by. I'm glad you were intrigued by the photo.