Cornflake Chocolate Marshmallow Bars are layered bars that start with a cornflake crunch bar topped with chocolate, marshmallows, and another layer of cornflake bars. Be sure to try my Cornflake Marshmallow Cookies, too!
Cornflake Chocolate Marshmallow Bars
This recipe is an adaptation of my Cornflake Marshmallow Cookies recipe and turned into layered dessert bars. The bars still have the perfect combination of sweet and salty, just like the cookies. They are a chewy treat that has a crunch from the baked cornflake clusters.
Cornflake Bars Ingredients
Cornflakes: You can use cornflake cereal and crush it up, or you could use cornflake crumbs if you have those on hand.
Kosher Salt: Kosher salt has larger crystals than table salt. Do not substitute table salt for kosher salt in this recipe.
Flour: In the bars, you will use both all-purpose flour AND bread flour. Bread flour has a higher protein than other flour (above 12%). This helps give the bars a chewy texture and added flavor. If you don’t have bread flour, you could use all-purpose flour as a substitute. However, the layers will be flatter and not have the same texture. With the added bread flour, the bar layers puffed up just the right amount.
Chocolate: I used five regular-sized Hershey chocolate bars to layer on top of the first layer of bars. No need to chop them or break them apart. You could use milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips instead (I would use an entire 10-ounce bag, or 1 3/4 cups of candy chips.)
Marshmallows: I used 2 cups of mini marshmallows as a layer in these bars. That is about 16 regular-sized marshmallows if you were using that size. (I would break them apart a little bit if using the larger ones.)
Cornflake Crunch
The cornflake clusters in this recipe add a bit of saltiness and crunch to the sweet bars. To get the cornflake clusters made, first, preheat the oven to 275°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl, toss together the crushed corn flakes, powdered milk, sugar, and salt. Pour in the melted butter and toss again; clusters will form.
Pour the mixture onto the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, or until the cereal is slightly toasted. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. After it has cooled, break up any large clusters into bits. This will be added to the bar batter.
The cornflake clusters can definitely be made ahead of time. Simply store the baked clusters in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. Then, add them to the cookie dough when you are ready to make the cookies!
How to Make the Bars
When ready to make the bars, preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare the bar batter. First, in the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter (no warmer than 68°F), granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Mix on medium speed until creamy (about 2 minutes).
Next, add the egg and vanilla and continue to mix on medium for another eight minutes. Yes, eight minutes! This may seem like a long time, but the long creaming time aerates the dough, creating tiny pockets of air that make for a fluffy texture. It will definitely be worth the time!
After creaming the ingredients, add all-purpose flour, bread flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix on low until just incorporated. Finally, gently fold in the cooled cornflake clusters.
How to Assemble Cornflake Chocolate Marshmallow Bars
Once the cornflake crunch and bar batter is made, it’s time to get the dessert bars layered, baked, and enjoyed! First, in a 9×13-inch baking dish, layer the bottom of the pan with half of the bar batter. Press it down into an even layer.
Top the bottom layer with the five chocolate candy bars. Again, there is no need to break them apart; simply place them on top of the batter. Then, top the chocolate bars with the mini marshmallows. Finally, top the marshmallows with the other half of the bar batter. Make sure to get all the way to the edges of the pan.
Bake the bars at 350°F for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Let the bars cool before cutting and serving. Store bars in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.
More Delicious Bars
Cornflake Chocolate Marshmallow Bars
Ingredients
Cornflake Crunch
- 4 cups cornflake cereal, roughly crushed
- ⅓ cup powdered milk
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup (1 stick / 113 g) unsalted butter, melted
Bars
- 1 cup (2 sticks / 227 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1¼ cups (250 g) granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup (133 g) brown sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1½ cups (187.5 g) all-purpose flour, plus 2 tablespoons
- 1 cup (127 g) bread flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 cups mini marshmallows
- 5 chocolate (1.55 ounces each) Hershey bars
Instructions
Cornflake Crunch
- Preheat oven to 275°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl add crushed cornflakes, powdered milk, sugar, and salt. Toss to combine.
- Pour in the melted butter and toss again. (Small cornflake clusters will form).
- Pour the mixture onto the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes (or until the cereal is slightly toasted).
- Cool completely. Then, break up any large clusters into bits.
Bars
- Preheat oven to 350°F and spray a 9×13-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Mix on medium until creamy (about 2 minutes).
- Add egg and vanilla and continue mixing for 8 minutes. (Yes, 8 minutes, to aerate the dough.)
- Add all-purpose flour, bread flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix on low until just incorporated.
- Gently fold in the cooled cornflake crunch.
- Divide dough in half and place half into the base of the 9×13-inch pan. Press down into an even layer.
- Top with Hershey bars and mini marshmallows.
- Top with the other half of dough in an even layer (all the way to the edges).
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Let the bars cool before serving.
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
Do you recommend a glass baking dish or a metal
Pan?
I made them in a glass baking dish but you can use metal. 🙂
After making the cornflake marshmallow cookies, I knew I wanted to try a variation on my s’mores bars recipe, and this recipe was perfect. In the middle layer I added a jar of marshmallow fluff in addition to chocolate and marshmallows, on the top I added marshmallows and as I pulled it out of the oven pressed in some chocolate chips to give it that s’mores look. Turned out amazing. Thanks for the great recipe!
I tried this recipe this past weekend and the bars were very dry and crumbly. I may tweek the recipe a little and try it again.
Can these be frozen?
Hey substitute something for bread flour?
Are the cornflakes measured first and then roughly crushed, or crushed first then measured?
This seems like a lot of work for three days. I wonder if my lazy self could try adding the cornflake crumbles to prepared yellow cake mix instead of making the batter
I’m not sure what you are talking about… “3 days”?