Golden Grahams Bars. Plain and simple. Like, as in, let’s get retro and go back to making bars from a box of cereal because HONESTLY IT’S JUST SO GOOD.
Do you mind? I am going to go full throwback retro dessert bar on you today.
I have had a MAJOR sweet tooth in the last few weeks as you might remember from this Mocha Peanut Butter Pie and these Raspberry Crumble Bars and last week’s Cookie Dough Energy Bites which are kind of dessert masquerading as health food balls. It’s the baby, I think, right? I can put this on her.
Either way, I CANNOT BE STOPPED.
These Golden Grahams bars are batting 100% for satisfying every dessert bar desire of my heart lately: crunchy, sticky, and 15-minute easy. I also love them because I grew up eating a lot of dessert bars (Minnesota represent!) in church basements, sporting events, and slumber parties. Creme Brûlée? Cheesecake? Tiramisu? Meh, that’s nice, but just cut me a hunk of that marshmallow cereal bar, wouldya?
Reasons To Love Golden Grahams Bars:
- Crunchy. SO CRUNCHY. Crunch, crunch, crunch.
- Sweet and chocolatey.
- SMORESY.
- Just the right amount of marshmallow-sticky.
- No baking.
- Easy to make.
- Easy to cut, store, transport, and pass around to friends.
- Easy to eat 5 without realizing. Wait, that’s a good thing, right?
Okay, I’m about to get bossy with you.
STUDY UP ON THIS.
If you are not immediately entranced by the hot, gooey, chocolate-marshmallow + crispy graham cereal business that just bumped into your face, you might not be human.
At this point in the “baking” process, you will need to stop, get out a spoon, and eat hot, shapeless, melted cereal-chocolate-mallow mash-up for a few minutes.
Once you’ve cut yourself off from the depths of warm Golden Graham bar mixture, you are ready to press and cut.
And when your Golden Grahams bars have cooled (which takes roughly fifteen minutes – yet another reason I love these babies), you need to cut them into VERY LARGE pieces, which is ideal for admiring your deliciously creviced cross-section of cereal, chocolate, and mallow.
You guys, I make no apologies. This is what I love right now.
Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!
Watch How To Make Our Golden Grahams Bars (1 Min):
Golden Grahams Bars
Total Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 12 huge bars 1x
Description
Golden Grahams Bars! Crunchy, chocolatey, and made with just FIVE ingredients. Even better: it’s no-bake a super easy to make. Winning!
Ingredients
Scale
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
- 1 bag of mini marshmallows
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 12-ounce box of Golden Grahams cereal (see notes)
Instructions
- Prep: Set one cup of the mini marshmallows aside.
- Chocolate Mixture: Melt the butter, chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, and vanilla in a large pot over medium heat until mostly smooth.
- Add Golden Grahams: Mix in the Golden Grahams cereal and remaining marshmallows. Stir to combine.
- Press Into Pan: Press into a 9×13 pan. Let them cool / solidify for an hour or two. Cut into 12 big bars and devour like a hungry Golden Grahams Bar wolf.
Notes
MAKE THESE ALREADY! They are so good.
Using wet hands helps to prevent sticking as you press the warm mixture into the pan.
When I made these, I added just a little less than the entire box of cereal. I would estimate 10 ounces. Here’s why: 1) I like to have a dessert bar that leans towards extra-sticky (higher goo-to-cereal ratio), and 2) it leaves me with a bowl or two of yummy cereal to eat. It should work fine with the whole box if you just want to do a clean sweep of it, but as someone who has made a lot of these, I’m just giving you my cereal pro tip.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: golden grahams bars, chocolate bars, cereal dessert bars
Note: I have an older recipe for almost-identical Golden Grahams Smores Bars that I also love. The only difference is that those ones include corn syrup, which I left out of this recipe. Doesn’t need it! They were still 100% sticky, delicious, sweet, crunchy, and summertime rockin.
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our easy chocolate desserts page. Check it out!