These magic cookie bars are an easy, crowd pleasing bar cookie made with layers of graham cracker crumbs, decadent chocolate chips, crunchy walnuts, and sweet coconut.
These magic cookie bars are one of the easiest and most loved cookie recipes I have. Pretty much if you can melt butter and have a can opener you can make these cookies.
Lets talk Ingredients:
- Butter: Salted is my preference, but either will do
- Graham cracker crumbs: I usually just buy a box because it’s easy , but you can feel free to make your own by taking a handful of Graham crackers for a spin in your food processor
- Walnut halves: Maybe be better than me and just buy chopped walnuts in the first place…
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips: We have a lot of sweetness going on in these bars. We want to use semi-sweet chips (rather than milk chocolate) to balance out some of that sweetness. I personally like 60% cacao chocolate chips, but you do you.
- Shredded sweetened coconut: Pretty self explanatory. Comes in a bag in the chocolate chip aisle at the grocery store. We want sweetened for sweetness and also the moisture.
- Sweetened condensed milk: Milk that has had some of the water removed and sugar added to make it shelf stable and delicious. Not to be confused with evaporated milk, which has no sugar added. Sweetened condensed milk is thick and creamy and well, sweet.
Let’s talk Method:
Super simple: layer each ingredient in the pan. I almost always use a bit more of the coconut, walnuts, and chocolate chips than the recipe calls for. I sprinkle them on until I have a nice thick layer of each. This method has never led me astray.
The trickiest part is pouring on the sweetened condensed milk. I find it easiest to puncture two holes in the top of the can with a bottle opener so you have more of a pour spout and drizzle over the whole pan. The milk is difficult to spread on the coconut layer so it’s easiest to drizzle.
Magic Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 2 cups walnut halves chopped
- 2 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips or 1-12 ounce package
- 3 cups shredded sweetened coconut
- 1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- Pour melted butter into a 9 x 13 pan.
- Sprinkle in the graham cracker crumbs over the melted butter. Press the graham cracker crumb/butter mixture into the bottom of the pan to form a crust.
- Sprinkle walnut pieces onto the crust. Next, sprinkle the chocolate chips over the walnuts.
- Then sprinkle the coconut over the chocolate chips.
- Open can of sweetened condensed milk, pour over the coconut, covering as much of the coconut as possible. The parts of the coconut without the sweetened condensed milk coating tend to burn.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
- Allow to cool. It takes quite a bit of time to properly cool, however these are delightful melty and a little bit warm.
Notes
If you’re a bar cookie fanatic like I am (hello, no need to scoop a bazillion scoops of cookie dough) you might want to try these caramel nut bars or for something a little more like a chocolate chip cookie, maybe these kongo bars.
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Happy Baking!