Peanut Butter Gooey M&M Bars

Do you have lots of Easter candy left over? Or like me, did you get some on sale after Easter was over? If so, these Peanut Butter Gooey M&M Bars are the perfect way to use up that left over candy! These are soft & chewy and you can use any chocolate candy on them: m&m’s, reese pieces, peanut butter eggs, etc. These make a 9×13 pan but you can easily half it and bake in an 8×8 or 9×9 baking pan to serve a smaller crowd.

Peanut Butter Gooey M&M Bars
Source: Two in the Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
10 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 cup m&m’s

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9×13 baking pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter, brown sugar & peanut butter until creamy. Add in eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated. Beat in vanilla.

In a medium sized bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder & cinnamon.

Gradually add the flour mixture  to the peanut butter mixture until just incorporated.

Stir in chocolate chips, reserving 1/2 cup for topping.

Spread half of the batter in the bottom of your prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed evenly over top of batter layer. Sprinkle the reserved 1/2 cup of chocolate chips over top of that. Evenly spread the remaining half of batter over top until it covers the condensed milk layer. Gently press the m&ms evenly over top.

Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes until the edges are just lightly golden and center is set. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely in pan on a cooling rack. Once cool, lift bars out of pan with aluminum foil and peel the foil off. Cut into squares and serve. Store in an airtight container.