Magic cookie bars
Layers of graham crumbs, chocolate, coconut and sweetened condensed milk bake into chewy, gooey bars without a mixing bowl.
- 100 min total
- 10 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 16
- About $0.48 a serving
- 260 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Make the full amount. Whatever’s left keeps for tomorrow.
Ingredients
For 16 servings.
- 1 stick butter
- 10 graham crackers, full sheets
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 14 oz
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1⅓ cups sweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
Each serving has about 260 calories, 3 g protein, 32 g carbs and 14 g fat, and costs about $0.48 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No butter? Ghee works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 350°F. Put the butter in a 9 by 13 inch baking pan and set it in the oven for about 5 minutes to .
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Timer: 5 min
Seal the graham crackers in a zip-top bag and crush them into fine crumbs with a rolling pin or the bottom of a pan.
Dolly’s tip: No rolling pin? A heavy mug or a can works just as well.Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the butter and press them down with a fork into a flat layer.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Pour the condensed milk evenly over the crumbs, scatter the chocolate chips, coconut and walnuts on top, and press down lightly with a fork.
Bake 25 to 28 minutes, until the coconut is at the edges.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 25 min
Cool completely , at least 1 hour, then cut into 16 bars.
Cool on a rack. Cooling on a rack means setting a hot pan or fresh cookies on a wire grid, so air moves underneath and the bottom doesn’t steam and turn soggy. No rack? The cool grates of your stovetop work the same way.
How you’ll know: The bottom of the pan feels barely warm when you touch it, and bars cut cleanly instead of crumbling.
Timer: 60 min
Dolly’s tip: Run a knife around the edges first. A knife dipped in hot water cuts the sticky layers cleanly.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop picks a dessert for treat night, puts what you need on the week’s grocery list, and walks you through each step.
