Holiday baking season is in full swing! I don’t know about you, but I always appreciate an easy, delicious recipe to add to my baking repertoire. These Graham Cookie Bars fit that description perfectly. Dump everything into a bowl, mix it up, press it in a pan, and bake. You can’t get much simpler than that.
I always prefer bar cookies to any other kind because, well, I’m just a lazy baker. And the older I get, the less patience I have with fiddly things in the kitchen. Or anywhere else for that matter. I’ll take a dump and bake recipe any day over a mix, roll, refrigerate, and cut out recipe.
Another plus, in my opinion, is that this is an old – really old – recipe. It has been around for as long as I can remember and I have no idea where it originated. It has appeared in dozens of community and church cookbooks over the years (always a good recommendation if you ask me) but its absolute origin is unknown. The original probably started with smashing up some graham crackers, but thankfully you can skip that step now and just purchase your crackers already pulverized. That’s what I did.
These graham cookie bars are easy to make with chocolate chips and butterscotch morsels. Click To Tweet
Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Then very heavily butter or grease a square pan. Either an 8 or 9-inch pan works fine for this.
Place all your ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Make sure you get a nice, homogenous mixture.
Press it into your prepared pan and pop it in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool for 45 minutes on a rack. Cut into 1 1/2″ squares. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.
Enjoy!
Graham Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup butterscotch morsels
- 1 cup chopped nuts
- Pinch of salt
- 14 oz. can condensed milk (i.e., Eagle Brand)
- Powdered sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Heavily grease or butter an 8 or 9-inch square pan. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix all ingredients. Stir until thoroughly combined.
- Press into prepared pan.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove for oven and cool in the pan on a rack for 45 minutes.
- Cut into 1 1/2” squares. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.
Notes
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Other bar cookie recipes you might enjoy:
- Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars from My Baking Addiction
- Tropical Magic Bar Cookies from Barbara Bakes
- Cinnamon Sugar Cookie Squares from Bake or Break
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Bars from Baking Bites
- Simple Brownies with Chocolate Frosting from Southern Living
I am thinking the bake time should read 35 mins vs. the 350 listed??????
Oh my! Thanks for pointing that out, Phyllis. It should be 30 minutes and I’ve already corrected the recipe.
Thanks Lana for fixing this. I plan to make these for Xmas gift giving.
They sound so tasty!
Phyllis – since you said that you’d be making these for gift giving, I wanted to let you know that there was an error in the recipe. Please visit the post again and get the corrected ingredient list. My apologies!
Thanks for the update Lana.
You know how much I love the ‘old’ stuff…some of my best recipes are from cookbooks that I treasure that would probably be considered ‘antiques’ or were simply passed word of mouth from neighbor to neighbor. How could graham and chocolate AND butterscotch ever be wrong…sounds divine!
Me too, Barb! Many times the ‘old’ stuff is the ‘best’ stuff. And, no…graham, chocolate, and butterscotch are never, ever wrong!
I hear you on keeping this as simple and unfussy as possible in the kitchen––especially this time of year! We’re celebrating our favorite traditional holiday recipes this month on the Shine Supper Club, and this would be a perfect contribution. I hope you’ll join us!
It sounds like fun, Sarah. I’ll definitely check into the Shine Supper Club and see how I can contribute.
I’ve never had these, they look amazing. Must try them soon!
Lana, there used to be a print button for your recipes can’t seem to find it and when Iprint I get a big page of stuff? help!
Rhonda – I’m working on getting the print thing corrected. I’ll email you a copy of the recipe and you can print from that.
I made these bars. Mine can out soupy instead od pressing into pan it poured in. 14 oz is now more than a can? They keep changing quanity sizes on products which are confusing. The recipes are sometimes harder to follow. So I guess asking that the 14 quite might be to much? I used a 8×8 pan. I am not a newer cook 71 years young and still love to cook and hope to continue for quite a while. These bars were good but still soupy even after baking a good 10 minutes longer. Thank you for the blog. Get a lot of good ideas.
Thank you for the feed bac and corrections. The sweetened condensed milk seems more like the answer and the can size matches the recipe amount. Thank you for the help. I also used cinnamon chips in place of butterscotch and liked the taste.
3 things:
I, like you, am a lazy baker and hate time-consuming cookies which is why I love bars.
I love love old recipes; those that have been around forever and are still favorites are obviously the best.
I normally shun recipes on blogs that are made from pre-made cookies, candy and such but wow I love these! I love the flavors and I love the way they look – they promise all my favorite childhood flavors in one bite. Yay and this is bookmarked! Thanks, Lana!
This recipe is worth to be kept and used over and over again. It is really good and the kids love it. They even prefer to eat this for breakfast. There is a reason why this recipe remains loved and that is because it is truly delicious.
So glad you and your children enjoyed the recipe. It’s definitely a keeper.
Oh my, how did I miss this post??? Those cookie bars look seriously to die for, and I need one now:-) YUM, Hugs, Terra
No butter…..no eggs??
Yes, that’s right.
I am so excited to come across this recipe! It takes me back to my earliest days in the kitchen learning to cook. Standing on a chair with a rolling pin crushing graham crackers and mixing in the condensed milk…hard work for a three year old! But so satisfying. These cookies were also my first solo cooking project. Need I say that this was Mother’s go to cookie recipe? I’ve thought of these cookies a lot over the years, but never could remember the proportions. So, thank you Lana, for the trip down memory lane. I now have a (partial) container of yummy cookies in my kitchen, and yes, they taste exactly the same as they did in the fifties….delicious!!!
I’m so pleased that I could provide that old favorite recipe for you, Bessy! Enjoy them!
I too confess. I do not like to make cookies. All that repetitive work drives me crazy. That’s why these bar cookies are right up my alley. Can’t wait to make them.
Miss P