Magic Cookie Bars

It’s Halloween! And I am sure if you are going to or preparing for any Halloween parties you will be expecting or preparing some spooky treats. I have never been one to get into Halloween to the point of creating Halloween themed food. But I still have a treat for you; introducing, Magic Cookie Bars! They may not be a spooky treat but they are magical. 😉

I remember my younger sister bringing magic cookie bars home one day back when I was still in middle school. I thought they were one of the best bars I had ever had but didn’t know what they were called. She said one of her friends made them and she had asked for the recipe. Days or weeks later when she came home with the recipe and tried to make them, she realized there were no measurements. It was just a list of ingredients. We were not on that level to just figure it out with no further information.

I don’t know if she ever got the full recipe but I never tried making them until a month ago. I saw a picture and realized that those were the same bars my sister’s friend used to make many years ago. Also, I realized how easy they are to make so this time I didn’t hesitate to make them.

These bars are really sweet, full of texture and very hard to resist. They are gooey and a bit chewy from the sweetened condensed milk and the coconut flakes, slightly crunchy from the nuts and graham cracker crust and the chocolate chips melt in your mouth with every bite. These are one of those treats that you have to get out of the house so you don’t end up eating them all by yourself.

Some Notes

• For this recipe you can use the chips and nuts of your choice. I used semi sweet chocolate chips and that worked well since it is already a pretty sweet recipe. But you can also use milk chocolate chips.
• I also used butterscotch chips but that is only because there were no white chocolate chips at the store. I feel like I would prefer them with white chocolate chips but they still work well.
• I used walnuts for this recipe but again, you can use which ever nuts you want.

Magic Cookie Bars

This recipe yields one 9 by 13 inch pan.

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips or white chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 1, 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes

Method

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. For easier removal and clean up, you can line a 9×13 inch baking pan with wax paper or foil.

In a bowl, mix together graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and salt until fully combined. Press this mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom of your pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and chopped nuts evenly on top of the crust. Drizzle half of the sweetened condensed milk on top of the chips and nuts as evenly as possible. Then cover the top with 1 cup of coconut flakes. Drizzle the remaining sweetened condensed milk evenly over the coconut flakes. Then top it with the remaining 1/2 cup of coconut flakes.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the coconut is toasted to your taste. Let it cool completely (about 1 hour) then cut into squares and serve.