Chocolate Crumble Milky Way Bar Cookies – 🍫🍪😋 My new favorite layered bar is a chocolate cookie dough base, topped with Milky Way bars, chocolate cookie dough crumbles, and drenched with creamy sweetened condensed milk! Less than 10 minutes to make without a mixer!
Table of Contents
Cookies with Milky Way Bars
I’m so in love with my peanut butter cup cookie dough crumble bars, I made gave them a second flavor with this Milk Way bar cookies recipe! And I’m in love all over again.
Sometimes I go through dessert phases where all I want is cookies. And for weeks, I make batch after batch of cookies. Right now I’m in a gooey bar phase. I just couldn’t get the rich, gooey goodness out of my head, and these Milky Way cookie bars always hit the spot.
Soft and squishy centers with chewy edges. Dense, buttery, and full of gooey creaminess from the sweetened condensed milk. Not to mention, mini peanut butter cups in every bite!
Prep and assembly take 10 minutes, no mixer is needed, and you can stir everything together in one bowl. The fewer dishes a recipe generates, the better.
The Milky Ways provide texture and another dimension of chocolate flavor. Between the nougat in them, and the creamy, rich, sweetened condensed milk that thickens while baking, I was in gooey nougat heaven.
Supremely rich, intense, bold, dark, and perfect for impromptu chocolate cravings. So many layers of textures and flavors, all in one bite from chocolate to caramel to vanilla.
Layered bars are where it’s at. Definitely a new favorite! Make a batch for holiday parties or afternoon treats. They always disappear fast!
Ingredients in Chocolate Milky Way Bar Cookies
To make this easy recipe for candy-filled cookie bars, you’ll need:
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Unsalted butter – melt your butter before you begin
- Egg – let it come to room temperature for easy mixing
- Light brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Brewed coffee – this is optional but highly recommended! The bars won’t taste like coffee, but it does bring out the chocolate flavor. Water will also work
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour – feel free to use a 1:1 all-purpose gluten-free flour if you need to keep these bars gluten-free
- Unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Milky Way candy bars – I like to use fun size Milky Way bars for easy chopping, but full-sized varieties also work
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make the Best Cookie Bars with Milky Ways
If you’ve ever made any kind of rich chocolate cookie, you can make these cookie bars! Here’s a quick overview of the baking process:
- Combine the melted and slightly cooled butter in a bowl with the egg, sugars, coffee, and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Add the dry ingredients, mixing just until the dough is well combined. It will be quite thick and dense!
- Reserve about 2/3 cup of dough, and turn the rest into a baking pan lined with aluminum foil or parchment paper and greased with cooking spray. Smooth it into an even layer, and sprinkle the candy bar pieces over the dough.
- Lightly crumble the reserved cookie dough on top in irregular, marble-sized chunks. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the top.
- Bake until the center is mostly set and the edges are firm, raised, and darker than the interior of the bars.
- Cool for at least 3 hours to allow the bars to set. Then, slice, serve, and enjoy!
Create picture-worthy bars
I recommend cooling your cookie bars for 1 hour on the counter and at least 2 hours in the fridge or ideally up to overnight. This ensures clean, pretty cut marks!
Recipe FAQs
Yes, just double all the ingredients, and use a 9×13 baking pan. Keep a close eye on the oven, and adjust the baking time as needed!
Not at all. If you’re not a fan, you can substitute your favorite candy bars or chocolate chips. Experiment with different varieties and combinations to make this recipe your own. It’s a great way to use up leftover Halloween candy!
Stored in an airtight container leftover bars will stay fresh for up to 1 week.
Yes! Allow the bars to cool completely. Then, wrap them with plastic wrap, transfer them to a sealable bag, and freeze them for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge or at room temperature when you’re ready to serve.
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Milky Way Chocolate Cookie Crumble Bars
Equipment
- 1 Large, Microwave-Safe Bowl
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted (1 stick)
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons brewed coffee, leftover from the morning brew is fine, optional but highly recommended
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder, I don’t sift
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 1 ½ cups diced Milky Way Bars, or substitute with Snickers, Peanut Butter Cups Butterfinger, Heath, Rolos, 3 Musketeers
- about 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk, just slightly more than half of one standard 14-ounce can
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, about 1 minute. Allow the butter to cool momentarily so you don’t scramble the egg. Add the egg, sugars, coffee (water may be substituted but coffee is highly recommended to bring out the chocolate flavor; the bars do not taste like coffee at all), vanilla, and stir or whisk vigorously to combine, about 1 minute.
- Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, optional salt and stir until just incorporated. Dough will be quite thick and dense.
- Reserve about 2/3 cup dough; set aside. Turn remaining dough out into prepared pan, smoothing it lightly with a spatula. Evenly sprinkle the Milky Ways over the dough. Using your fingers, lightly crumble the reserved cookie dough over the top in irregular, marble-sized chunks. Pour sweetened condensed milk over the top (just eyeball slightly over half of the can as you pour slowly).
- Bake for about 27 to 30 minutes, or until center is mostly set. The sweetened condensed milk should nearly be set in all places, but possibly a little loose in the very center of the pan is okay. Edges will be firm, raised, and darker than the interior. Bars firm up more in pan as they cool; don’t overbake because you want these to stay soft and gooey, and cocoa powder is prone to turning dry.
- Allow bars to cool in pan for at least 3 hours before slicing and serving (use foil overhang to lift out). I recommend cooling for 1 hour on the counter, and at least 2 hours in the refrigerator, or overnight. This ensures clean, pretty cut marks. If you don’t care about that, bars may be consumed as soon as they are cool enough to eat; grab a spoon and dig in. Extra bars will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Bars may be kept gluten-free by replacing the flour with your favorite gluten-free baking blend. Take care any ingredients used are suitable for your dietary needs.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Dessert Bar Recipes:
Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Dough Crumble Bars – A soft and chewy, dense, buttery cookie dough base, topped with peanut butter cups, and creamy, rich, sweetened condensed milk. A new favorite and an absolute must-make.
White and Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Chocolate Cake Bars – All the decadence of cheesecake, minus the work. Ready in less than a half hour.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookie Bars – All the taste and texture of cookies, minus the work of making individual cookies. Bar cookies are so much faster and these are soft, chewy, and loaded with chocolate chunks.
Coconut Peanut Butter Magic Cake Bars – One of my favorite desserts of 2011, and similar to Seven Layer or Magic Bars, but a cake base is used instead of a graham cracker crust. Soft, dense, rich, chewy, tons of textures and flavors, and so easy.
Cookie Butter Brown Sugar Streusel Bars – Soft, chewy and moist from the cookie butter and all brown sugar dough base that’s topped with crunchy streusel bits.
Peanut Butter Cocoa Krispies Smores Bars – No need for campfires, make s’mores at home. These smores have three layers, including a cocoa-crispy cereal top layer that’s made with peanut butter.
Caramel and Chocolate Gooey Bars (GF with Vegan adaptation) – The hardest part of this recipe is unwrapping the caramels. Easy, loaded with texture from the oats, and dripping with chocolate.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Squares (No-Bake, Vegan, GF) – A fast, easy, and texture-filled bar pairing two of my favorites, chocolate and peanut butter.
Nanaimo Bars (No-Bake) – A triple layer bar that’s incredibly rich and satisfying. A chocolate-almond base, topped with a gooey middle, and finished with a layer of chocolate.
Thanks for the entries in the 24 Hours of Peanuts Cookbook and Prize Pack Giveaway and the Bestowed Healthy Care Package Delivery Giveaway
I shouldn’t have read this so early in the morning. It’s barely 8:30 and now I’m craving one of these bars! Definitely pinning this one to make soon, Averie!
Thanks for the pin…chocolate cravings know no time of day :)
I’m all for a gooey bar phase :) Sounds like a good one! These bars look great. It’s so fun to work things like candy inti baked goods.
I know you can’t eat chocolate but carob maybe with another kind of candy bar that works for you.
I don’t bake bars and cookies because I don’t think I’m good at it. Your blog offers so many variants and great cookie recipes…makes everything look relatively easy and beautiful. OK, I’ve just have to pick one to start from… this one, with a lovely hint of coffee, is definitely one of my favorite!
they’re the easiest things ever – you just start layering stuff in a pan and it pretty much will work out…unlike cakes, brownies, or cookies that are soooo much fussier; bars are the most forgiving of all! :)
Oh yes, baking phases are wonderful for the baker, but not for the family;) Not in this case! I have an unhealthy obsession with peanut butter and those previous bars looked incredible and now you’ve added chocolate – I’m convinced there couldn’t be a better bar anywhere. I love bars (one batch and in the oven, unlike cookies) and this looks like the ultimate combo if chocolate, caramel, and gooey. My family would love it with Snickers. Averie, you rock!
Snickers is next on my agenda!
OMG…these bars sound so, so, so good! I wish I could have one right now…lol!
Averie, we’re all loving this bar phase you’re in too ;) Melty, chocolaty, count me in! I think its high time I made a cookie bar, and an easy one at that. I like your recipes because they only take under 30 mins- a total plus for me. I created a new lemon custard bar yesterday and it tastes great, but it was so darn fussy I’m not sure if its going on the blog. I know as a reader I’m happiest to see easy recipes- can always count on you for that. Thanks!
I loathe fussy recipes. Yeast bread is time-consuming but it’s downtime and it’s not fussy per se. These Nanaimo bars were fussy as all get-out and https://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2012/10/nanaimo-bars.html they were a bucket list item for me but not enjoyable to make recipes like that for me. It takes the fun out of cooking. I feel the same way about the NYT Cookies https://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2012/11/new-york-times-chocolate-chips-cookies-from-jacques-torres.html So fussy and the results are no where near as good as the super-simple recipe for choc chip cookies that I have. Sometimes fussy is worth it; rarely though can I justify it!
Funny you linked up the Nanaimo bars, I was thinking about those when I wrote the comment and went to read your post on them. Its true, so hard to justify when there are so many good 30 minute recipes out there where people would never know the difference!
People truly don’t know the difference. That is so true! Sadly some people would probably prefer boxed brownies to the more sophisticated taste of the N-Bars. So I try to keep it simple, within reason :)
I know what you mean about the baking phases. I’m recovering from a muffin baking craze, and jumping into cookies. Looks like you’re doing awesome with your bar baking streak! These look incredible. And I love that you add brewed coffee to the cookie dough, it does so much to intensify the flavor of chocolate baked goods. Well done!
You were all about the muffins there for awhile! I am excited to see cookies!
I love how you take an awesome base recipe and tweak it into something equally amazing! With a name like milky way chocolate cookie crumble bars, how could they not be incredible?! :)
It’s all about finding a base/ratio of ingredients and tweaking it. Helps me feel less like Im reinventing the wheel, every single recipe!
You are on fire Lady!!!
:) I try.
I haven’t tasted them but I’m in love with these too! I can tell just by the pictures that these bars were meant for me! I’m sure the peanut butter bars are fantastic, but these MilKy Way bars are pretty spectacular!
they’re both stellar in their own right!
Snickers are another great chocolate bar infusion in these! Droolworthy.
Oh I know. I grew up on them…like, tons. Love them. Need to bake more with them. Note to self :)
These sound so delicious! I was so obsessed with Milky Way bars in middle school…you are speaking to my inner 12 year old here! :) The addition of coffee is great- it always makes chocolate somehow taste more like chocolate!
Yes it does – just rounds out the flavors a bit!
The PB version looked incredible, but holy chocolate these look amazing! The coffee is a great touch. I saw Ina Garten use it chocolate cupcakes for that extra “little something” and did it myself for a while, then somehow forgot about it. I love re-discovering/being reminded of tips like that!
I always use coffee in my chocolate. It was to the point in my book, my editors were like Averie, you say this every time about using coffee in any choc recipe. I’m like yes, I know, it’s important that people don’t skip it:)
I’m definitely loving this gooey bar phase of yours too. These look so incredible.
Thanks, Kathryn! I wish I could share with you!
Now that’s an awesome way to get gooey chocolate caramel into a baked good. I know someone who would love these. Then again, who wouldn’t?! :D
Girl they are crazy good. So rich and gooey, and oh so good! :)