Calling all peanut butter lovers! These Peanut Butter Cup Magic Bars are certainly magical because they’re JAM-PACKED with amazingly rich peanut butter flavors! A must try!
These bars are kinda sorta outrageous and I’m not apologizing for it!
A few weeks ago, I polled my Instagram followers for some recipe ideas. What can I say? Right now I’m kinda uninspired!
I figured you guys would be anti-oven because the weather’s heating up, but apparently not all of you live in an armpit like I do (Sacramento – ugh). Be grateful, because it’s 100 degrees F here already!
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However, I aim to please, so despite the fact that I was sweating profusely at 10 am, I made you these bars and I hope you like them! If you’re a peanut butter fan, they’re a must try.
I’ve made a lot of magic bar recipes in the past, and I’ve even made a chocolate peanut butter version… but that was a long time ago, and I figured you’d need to be reminded of how great these can be! Plus, these are WAY more peanut buttery the second time around 🙂
These bars are a little different than your regular magic bars because they have a fudgy, chewy cake-mix crust as a base as opposed to graham crackers. I find that graham crackers don’t offer the stability for such heavy toppings and make for a messy, sloppy pile of ingredients once cut. The cake mix base isn’t cake-y – it’s more like a fudgy brownie and is far thicker, making it easier for you to pile on the toppings.
And toppings, these have!
Loaded with chopped peanut butter cups, chocolate and peanut butter chips, Reese’s Pieces candies, and peanut butter Oreos, there’s a lot of PB-related heft to these bars. The fudgy, chewy, thick brownie-like base is perfect to support everything and of course, chocolate works so well with peanut butter!
Right before baking, you’ll drizzle on a can of sweetened condensed milk which helps set everything in place and provides a killer gooey factor that cannot be beat! Seriously, you cannot have magic bars without condensed milk – there’s literally no substitution!
Enough of my yapping, it’s time for you to get baking!
- FOR THE CRUST:
- One box chocolate cake mix
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup butter, melted (can substitute ½ cup oil)
- FOR THE TOPPING:
- 8-10 peanut butter cups, roughly chopped
- ½ cup chocolate chips
- ½ cup peanut butter chips
- ½ cup Reese's Pieces candies
- 10-12 peanut butter Oreos, roughly chopped
- One 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13x9 rectangular baking pan with foil and extend the sides of the foil over the edges of the pan. Spray the foil liberally with cooking spray; set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, egg, and melted butter until a stiff and thick dough comes together. Press the dough evenly into the bottom of the pan and bake for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven but keep the oven on.
- Sprinkle the top of the crust evenly with the peanut butter cups, chocolate and peanut butter chips, Reese's Pieces candies, and crushed Oreos. Drizzle the condensed milk evenly over the top. Return to the oven and continue baking for 18-20 minutes or until the top is bubbly and set. Cool completely before cutting into bars.
Thick and chewy, fudgy and gooey – everyone will love these!
Have a super sweet day!
xo, Hayley
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