These Mud Hen Bars are gooey, chewy and delicious chocolate marshmallow bars topped with brown sugar meringue! They’re some of the most delicious dessert bars ever!
Mud Hen Marshmallow Dessert Bars Recipe
Sometimes names can be deceiving.
Haven’t you ever met a person and been like, yeah…your parents SO should have named you Jan and not Heather? Or Brody and not Chuck? It happens.
Same thing happened with these bars. They’re called Mud Hen Bars. Which is basically the grossest name ever. Mud is not tasty…Hens are all pecky and whatnot… And the google told me a “Mud Hen” is a gross marsh bird that lives in swamps and other wetland-type areas.
Well, I am not a bird-fan in general. They scare me. I mean, they can fly. Think about it. AND Mud Hens are not only birds, they live in swamps. Swamp birds. Could there be a worse type?
But defying all laws of logic I made these Mud Hen Bars. They sound gross. But they aren’t. They’re exactly the opposite.
This Mud Hen Bars recipe is really easy.
What is a Mud Hen Bar?
The best way to describe Mud Hen Bars is they are is a kind-of cookie base, topped with chocolate chips and marshmallows with a yummy brown sugar meringue spread all over the top.
How to Make This S’mores Dessert
Just sprinkle your chips and marshmallows…
Then mix up your meringue, which is just brown sugar and egg whites…
Then spread that all over the top…
What you’ll get is a gooey cookie bar topped with a light, crunchy meringue topping.
They are really like nothing else I’ve ever had…
Such a cool combination of textures. They might not be pretty, but they are tasty.
Just forget that they’re called Mudhens 🙂
This Mud Hen Bar recipe was originally published on my site in 2012. I have since updated some of the pictures and slightly tweaked the recipe. Enjoy!
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Mud Hen Bars
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 24 bars 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
These Mud Hen Bars are gooey, chewy and delicious chocolate marshmallow bars topped with brown sugar meringue! They’re some of the most delicious dessert bars ever!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 whole egg + 2 eggs, separated
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup mini marshmallows
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
Instructions
- Preheat 350°
- Spray a 9×13 baking pan lightly with cooking spray
- In a large bowl cream together butter, granulated sugar, 1 whole egg plus 2 yolks and vanilla until smooth.
- Add in flour, baking powder and salt and mix until just combined. Spread in prepared pan.
- Top with chocolate chips and mini marshmallows.
- In a clean mixing bowl with whisk attachment on your mixer, beat the 2 remaining egg whites until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes on high.
- Fold in light brown sugar and stir until combined and there are no lumps.
- Spread on top of chocolate chips and marshmallows.
- Bake 30-35 minutes until top is golden brown.
- Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares
Notes
store airtight at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 179
- Sugar: 20.6 g
- Sodium: 61.4 mg
- Fat: 7.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 27.8 g
- Protein: 2.3 g
- Cholesterol: 33.4 mg
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Do I really fold in the sugar and not beat it in? Folding brown sugar doesn’t sound like it would ever incorporate correctly/fully and would come out grainy…
Mud hens are a Triple A baseball team in Toledo, Ohio. Sometimes stadium treats get called by the ball park name when people try to dupe them at home. I wonder if this might be on of those recipes.
I can’t wait to try these, I’m a sucker for gooey marshmallow and chocolate.
The meringue was delicious but the cookie was very undercooked. ?I will try them again & increase the bake time.
I found this recipe (minus the marshmallows) in the newspaper in the 1960s or 70s and have been making them ever since–they are a favorite! They were not called Mudhens, though, but Chocolate Chip Meringue Bars.
I have the same recipe. It came from one of my mother’s friends. I use butterscotch chips and it is “deadly”!
As I looked at the description for making these bars I noticed a descrepency in how to make the Meringue. It says to add 1 brown sugar to the beaten egg whites. Is that supposed to be 1 cup of Brown sugar? Sorry if there was already a correction made. I’m anxious to try these for our church pitluck this Sunday so I hope U see this soon. Thank U.
Ahh yes, 1 cup!
I am going to make these for church. Would like to make them 2-3 days ahead of time. Will they be as good or should I wait until the day before?
would wait until the day before 🙂
These look amazing!! I only have dark brown sugar on hand…do you think it would still work?
Thanks!
Yep! It will work 🙂
Wow! What a unique sweet treat! I’ve never heard of a Mud Hen Bar, or seen anything like it. These look super tasty. Can’t wait to try them out 🙂
Made these – SO GOOD. I undercooked them a bit at first, but put them back in the oven and they are amazing.
The name is what caught me to look at recipe…sounds like something your farm living grandma would make as a treat & its just been handed down over & over…they k so yum I’m making this wknd…i think they look like a mudhen bar & look really delicious to the eyes! Thank you for the info on it…i really enjoyed the read…and Thank you for sharing this recipe…im excited to make & taste! Tina