Peanut M&M Cookie Bars

Yes. These. These are my Peanut M&M cookies in a bar form. Identical batter, but a lot less time and fuss. They are chewy, so they do lack that cookie crunch, but they taste delicious nonetheless. I can't decide which I like better, in truth, but I know for certain that when I am short on time, I will definitely be making the bars.  I gave a detailed workflow of preparing the batter in my cookie post, so I won't rehash it here. Instead, I will pick up the recipe where it diverges from the cookie recipe:



Rather than use a cookie scoop to make individual cookies, evenly press the batter into a greased 9x13" pan like so:

Bake for about 30 minutes until golden:

Then you can cut into squares and enjoy. Easy! And yummy! The peanut M&Ms add a wonderful texture and taste to the bars. These were gone from the cookie platter in no time at all!

As you can see from my pics, I got 42 squares from the one pan. I know the squares are small if you cut so many, but honestly, they are pretty rich, so small ones work well. I think larger bars would be overwhelming to eat because they are so much thicker than cookies. But that's just a suggestion.


Peanut M&M Cookie Bars

Ingredients

• 2 sticks of butter, softened
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1/2 C brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 C flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3/4 C pecans, chopped small (but not fine) -- optional
• 1-12.6 oz bag Peanut M&M's in Christmas colors (or holiday colors of your choice)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Coat a 9x13" pan with cooking spray (optional: line pan with aluminum first for ease of lifting out bars)
3. Cream softened butter and sugars until fluffy
4. Add in egg, salt and vanilla and mix until combined
5. Add in flour and baking soda, and mix until just combined
6. Add in pecans and peanut M&M's, and stir until combined evenly
7. Press batter evenly and gently into pan
8. Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes, until golden
9. Cool completely, cut into squares (can lift out of pan after 10 minutes if you lined pan with aluminum)