Magic Cookie Bars

Golden Brown!

To start off, I thought I would try to make a family favorite, Magic Cookie Bars. Not only do I love the name, but also they are delicious. I have been eating these since I was little when my Mom would make them for family parties or other special occasions. I have never actually tried to make them myself, so I thought I would give them a try.

This recipe is pretty simple, but I did manage to run into one problem. In the recipe, the bottom layer is crushed graham cracker to form the crust. Since I am living in a college apartment, or course we did not have a food processer. So, I had to improvise and decided to put the graham crackers into a plastic Ziploc bag and crushed them with a can. This worked pretty well, but took much longer than a food processor would have.

Despite this minor problem, the rest went smoothly. In the end they came out well, baked for the perfect amount of time. In the recipe, it says to only set the oven at 325 degrees if you have a glass dish. I would definitely recommend following this. I used a glass dish and they came out at the perfect consistency.

The recipe says to use chopped nuts. For mine, I decided to use chopped walnuts. I would definitely suggest using these because they were tasty. They were a great texture to go along with the chocolate chips and coconut.

Here is one tip to make this simple recipe even simpler: The recipe says to spray the pan with cooking spray and to mix the melted butter with the crushed graham crackers. Instead of this, I simply put the stick of butter in the oven to melt and mixed the crushed graham crackers right into the bottom of the pan. I had no problems with the bars sticking and I saved washing a few dishes!

Here is the recipe:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 (14 oz.) can Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk

2 cups (12 oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

1 cup chopped nuts

HEAT oven to 350°F. Spray 13 x 9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray. COMBINE graham cracker crumbs and butter in small bowl. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut and nuts. Press down firmly with fork. BAKE 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Loosen from sides of pan while still warm; cool on wire rack. Cut into bars or diamonds.

It is available at Eagle Brand