Magic Cookie Bars

My mom made these cookie bars many times when we were growing up, and when I moved away from home I made sure to take the recipe with me. There is one word to describe them: decadent. Ok maybe two words: simple and decadent.

This is not a difficult recipe. Even my friend who hates baking should be able to handle this one. Graham cracker crumbs, coconut, walnuts, chocolate chips, and the kicker... sweetened condensed milk. The sweetened condensed milk holds these crumbly ingredients together, caramelizing a bit around the sides of the pan to make a chewy edge (my favorite part).

You could definitely use this same technique and modify the recipe to accommodate your favorite ingredients. For example, it would be great with a different kind of nut, or white chocolate. For even more variety, marshmallows or dried fruit would impart a totally different flavor.

I'm not sure where my mom got this recipe from, but I'm guessing it was from the side of a jar of sweetened condensed milk, since I was able to find a suspiciously similar recipe over on the Nestle website. While I was making these cookie bars for a friend's barbecue recently, it occurred to me that I didn't really know what sweetened condensed milk is, nor how it is different from its commonly used counterpart, evaporated milk.

I did a little research and it turns out that both sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk were developed in the mid 1800s as a way to preserve milk for long periods of time. Both products consist of milk that has had some water removed. However, evaporated milk requires more processing to preserve the milk, since the sugar in sweetened condensed milk acts as a preservative.

These days both ingredients are found most commonly in baking applications. For example, tres leches contains both condensed milk and evaporated milk. But that is for another post...

Here is what it looks like:



And here is the recipe:

Magic Cookie Bars

1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (You can buy graham cracker crumbs, or put graham crackers in a ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to crush them. About 11 graham crackers make 1 1/2 cups crumbs.)
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup coursely chopped walnuts
1 cup chocolate chips
1 1/3 cup flaked coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Measure graham cracker crumbs and sugar into a 13x9x2 inch pan and mix together. Pour the melted butter on top and combine with the crumbs. With the back of a spoon, press mixture firmly and evenly in the bottom of the pan to form a crust.

Sprinkle walnuts evenly over crust. Scatter chocolate bits over walnuts. Sprinkle coconut evenly over chocolate bits. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over coconut.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, or until lightly browned around edges.

Let it cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting into bars.