Magic Cookie Bar Thursday

What do you get when you put butterscotch, chocolate, coconut, pecans and graham crackers together? Magic.

One day as I was strolling through the cafeteria’s massive pantry and contemplating what to bake for the students, I came across some butterscotch chips that wanted to be used. So I thought of all the things I could do with butterscotch chips and I came across some chocolate chips, coconut, pecans and graham crackers. So I decided to put them all together and make some magic.

This is the story of the Magic Cookie Bar.

I only had an hour left of my shift and I already had the special for the day prepared. This was just going to be an extra experiment. When the 5 o’clock dinner bell chimed, I was surprised to see that the students were making a line for the Magic Cookie Bars and were hardly taking the Daily Special! WHOA. They are magic.

Then two students came up for seconds and said, “Can you make these again?!” I told them, “I work every Thursday and Fri..” “MAKE THEM EVERY THURSDAY!” they exclaimed. And that day became the first Magic Cookie Bar Thursday. Now, every week, students can come in and eat a little bit of bliss to relax and recharge to get through the rest of their hard week. That’s what I love about my job. I get to create yumminess that make a bad day, a magical one. But this trick isn’t secret, so I’ll share it with you. 🙂

MAGIC COOKIE BARS (You can make them on a different day than Thursday if you want;)

For this recipe you can play up the toppings so you have it just how you like it. If you really love coconut, throw some more on there! If you don’t like nuts, skip it and add more chocolate! Do what you want and make it your masterpiece!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup  all-purpose flour
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (9 graham crackers)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butterscotch chips

For the top:

• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 8 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line a 8×8 baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving enough overhang on the sides. Set aside.

In a large bowl using handheld or stand mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar together on medium speed. Beat for about 2 minutes until smooth and combined. Add the vanilla extract and egg, beating until combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl down as needed. Set aside.

Toss the flour, graham cracker crumbs, and baking powder together until combined. With the mixer running on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix until combined, then mix in the butterscotch chips. Press graham cracker dough into the prepared baking pan and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and layer with chocolate chips, coconut, and pecans.  Drizzle sweetened condensed milk evenly on top.

Bake the bars until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool for 30 minutes at room temperature and then stick in the refrigerator to cool all the way through. Once the bottom of the pan is cold, you may cut the bars into squares. (I know it’s tough, but really wait until they are cool or else you will have your self in a chocolatey, sticky mess. Which is yummy too, but just wait)

So now is the time to get up and turn the oven on because you are about to make some magic that is going to make your taste buds dance. You know you want to. Take a picture of yours and tell me what you think!

Thanks for following my blog! Let me know if there’s a favorite treat I can bake or recreate for you! 🙂

Love always,

Nicole