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Mint chocolate gooey Leprechaun Bait Bars are an easy, festive dessert sure to attract wee folk of all kinds! A perfect dessert for St. Patrick’s Day though you’ll want them far more often! Gluten-free and regular instructions.

I LOVE St. Patrick’s Day but found myself feeling caught off guard and a bit behind when new crafts and recipes began showing up on the internet before Valentine’s Day. I thought the months-in-advance promotion of decor and internet content was reserved solely for Christmas and Halloween.

Often my mercurial holiday muse doesn’t appear on command. It can be anything from a change in the wind velocity or a scent in the air that causes a recipe idea to spring forth for me; go figure.

I try to be sure to share a well-rounded selection of recipes with you, covering easy delicious dinners, desserts, healthy options, breakfast choices and cocktails. The time is feeling apropos for both something gooey and sweet, as well as to start thinking about St. Patrick’s Day!

Naughty Leprechauns Shenanigans

I don’t know your personal feelings about leprechauns. I was enchanted with them as a child and have loved their depictions in movies over the years. I will say we have one that visits our house every St. Patrick’s Eve and turns the house on its ear!

We arrive downstairs in the morning to find chairs stacked to the ceiling a la Poltergeist circa 1982. Often shamrock stickers adorn everything from fruit to door handles. I finally had to write a note requesting they discontinue tainting the toilet water green as it was causing an annual trip to Home Depot on March 18 to replace all the seat covers that bore a permanent reminder of the shenanigans in brilliant, permanent shade of emerald.

Now just the milk is turned green.

Leprechaun Bait Bars – Gooey Mint Chocolate Goodness!

So my friends, it is with this background that I will share a recipe for Leprechaun Bait Bars. A chocolate cookie crust is covered with gooey chocolate chips, mint chocolate M & M’s, mini marshmallows and Andes mint rectangles. Of course we know they love gold so some yellow Mega M & M’s are thrown in for good measure.

I’ll let you decide is you dare bait a leprechaun. You have been warned! Though I’ll add the bars also attract husbands, wives, children, co-workers, boyfriends, girlfriends and mail men too.

Gluten-Free or Gluten Leprechaun Bait Bars

Instructions for making Leprechaun Bait Bars with gluten-fre or gluten chocolate cookies are included in the recipe. Gluten-free baked goods are less absorbant so the main difference when swapping is changing the ratio of cookie crumbs to melted butter!

Homemade Cookie Crumb TIP: I always make my own cookie crumbs for desserts. It’s easy with a mini chopper. Throw in your favorite cookies, pulse and you have instant cookie crumbs!

More St. Patrick’s Day Desserts You’ll Love:

If you’ve tried these Leprechaun Bait Bars or any other recipe on BoulderLocavore.com please don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know where you found it in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’m up to!

Mint Chocolate Leprechaun Bait Bars baked into a white rectangular baking dish

Ingredients

2 cups gluten-free Chocolate Cookie Crumbs* or 1 ½ cups regular Chocolate Cookie crumbs if not gluten-free
½ cup Unsalted Butter , melted
1 14-ounce can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup Dark Chocolate Mint green M&M’s
1 cup Mini Marshmallows
1 4.67-ounce package Andes Crème de Menthe Thins (28 pieces), unwrapped and cut in half horizontally to make 2 squares per rectangular thin
¼ cup Yellow Mega M&M’s (the amount of yellow found in a 10.20-ounce bag of mixed Mega M&Ms)

Instructions

Butter or spray with non-stick spray a 9-inch by 13-inch baking pan. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
In a medium mixing bowl combine cookie crumbs with the melted butter. Mix well and spoon into the prepared baking pan. Press down into pan to form a crust.
Drizzle half of the sweetened evaporated milk over the cookie crumb crust and smooth out with the back of a spoon.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the chocolate chips, Mint M&M’s, Andes mints and marshmallows. Toss to fully combine. Distribute evenly over the crust.
Drizzle the remaining sweetened evaporated milk over the entire mixture in the baking pan. Evenly distribute the yellow Mega M&M’s over the top.
Bake the bars for 25-30 minutes until the marshmallows and condensed milk begin to turn golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool fully before slicing. Tip: after the bars cool to room temperature, put them in the refrigerator to chill before cutting. This allows firm bars to be cut.

Notes

*I make the crumbs using gluten-free chocolate cookies ground in a food processor.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Leprechaun Bait Bars

Amount Per Serving

Calories 144 Calories from Fat 81

% Daily Value*

Fat 9g14%

Saturated Fat 4g20%

Cholesterol 11mg4%

Sodium 43mg2%

Potassium 40mg1%

Carbohydrates 14g5%

Sugar 9g10%

Protein 1g2%

Vitamin A 125IU3%

Vitamin C 0.1mg0%

Calcium 17mg2%

Iron 0.7mg4%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.