The first time I ate one of these bars was way back in college. I think they were sent by a mother who liked sending baked goods to her daughter. The combination of chocolate, butterscotch, coconut, graham crackers and walnuts all combined with sweetened condensed milk tasted in a word, magical. Ah-ha, maybe hence the name!
The recipe for this confection could be found on the back of almost any can of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk. Over time it seems that bakers across the country came up with some variations to the basic original recipe. Changes ranged from replacing semi-sweet chocolate chips with bittersweet chocolate chips, from topping the bars with chopped walnuts to chopped pecans back again to chopped walnuts, from using boxed graham cracker crumbs for the crust to making a crust with 'real' graham crackers, and moving from a thinner bar to a thicker, chunkier one. Each of the changes to the bar has resulted in something slightly more decadent, slightly more unique, but always a little better.
The first secret to this recipe is the making of a graham cracker crust using freshly crushed graham crackers versus using the prepackaged already crushed crumbs. Yes, I know this approach to making the crust comes from the person who uses a refrigerated pie crust in her pies and quiches. Certainly there is a place in this world for someone who can be consistently inconsistent. No? Yes? The crust for these bars is baked before all of the other ingredients are layered on. The pre-baking of the crust ensures the crust remains intact when cutting them, but also adds to the finished flavor. I have had good results without pre-baking the crust, but even better results when I pre-baked it.
The switch from using semi-sweet chocolate chips to bittersweet chocolate chips (between 60-66% cocoa) makes all the difference in the world in these bars. It elevates them to a different place on the Magic bar continuum of deliciousness. I lean toward using Ghiradelli chocolate chips as they retain their creaminess when baked.
The second secret to this recipe is the order in which the other ingredients are layered. Beginning with the butterscotch chips, followed by the chocolate chips, and then topped with coconut before the sweetened condensed milk is poured evenly over the top. The coconut is always, always covered by the sweetened condensed milk. And the nuts always, always go last. Before baking you need to gently press the nuts into the sweetened condensed milk so when you cut them into bars they remain on the bar and are not falling off everywhere.
Whoever invented parchment paper was a genius. The use of parchment paper should be required for every bar, cookie, and cake recipe ever printed. It is a recipe game changer, particularly when removing the bars from the pan. Being able to cut them into perfect, or imperfect, little squares or rectangles is a such a satisfying end to the baking process. How many times have you baked a bar recipe without using parchment paper and they were difficult to remove from the pan? And then when you finally got them out, your knife scratched the heck out of your pan.
The last secret to this version of the recipe is that the increases to the quantity of ingredients makes for a much thicker, chunkier, more substantial bar for eating, for serving. There is something indescribably wonderful about biting into this thick confection. This recipe transforms these bars into something, okay here it comes, magical!
After the bars are baked and cooled I chill them for several hours. The chilling makes it so much easier to cut them. However, the chilling of these bars also ramps up the taste and flavor significantly. While they are good at room temperature, they are really great chilled.
These are not the bars I first tasted in college. So if it has been years since you have eaten anything named Magic bars, Seven Layer Bars or Hello Dolly bars and you think, 'been there, done that', you would be cheating yourself if you don't make this version of the recipe.
Recipe
Decadent Magic 8 Ingredient Bars
Ingredients
Crust
3 cups crushed graham crackers (or boxed graham cracker crumbs)
1/2 cup or 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
2 Tablespoons of granulated sugar
Filling
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, bittersweet (60% cocoa) highly recommended, but semi-sweet will work
1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips
2 cups shredded coconut
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
Directions
1. Mix crust ingredients together. Press into a parchment paper lined 9x12 pan.
2. Bake crust at 300 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool.
3. Layer the butterscotch chips, then chocolate chips, then coconut.
4. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over the coconut.
5. Top with chopped walnuts, pressing them into the sweetened condensed milk.
6. Increase oven to 325 degrees and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the edges of the bar are lightly browned.
7. Remove from oven, cool and then refrigerate.
8. Cut into squares or rectangles and serve chilled.
If you love chocolate and coconut together, you will love this recipe. Most of you have probably made one version or another of this bar. The homemade graham cracker crust and use of bittersweet chocolate gives it that fresh from the bakery taste versus the 'I picked these up at a bake-sale' taste. Not that there aren't some really good things for sale at a bake-sale, but they are usually the first things to go.
Delivered a tray of these bars to my neighbors this week. This is a tray that goes back and forth between my house and theirs. It came back empty this week which was reason enough for me to fill it up again. I picked up this tray at Target soon after I moved into this house for the singular purpose of delivering baked goods to the family with two girls, one boy, a dog, a cat, ducks, goats, chickens, at least one rooster, cows and horses. Little do they know they are just helping me satisfy my need to bake, my need to try new recipes. Yes, it is all about me.
There is something magical about living next door to this small working farm. Maybe because it is so different from living a life in suburbia. Although I still need to satisfy my cravings for all things found in the 'city', there is something very enchanting about living in a town near the ocean where farms and homes perfectly co-exist, where there is just one general store, one gas station, only a handful of restaurants (no fast food ones, and ones where they mostly take cash and checks, no credit cards) and have some of the most beautiful beaches. Since the advent of internet, the accessibility to almost anything I need or want to buy is just a few clicks away. But the views of hundred year old farms and homes, the miles and miles of stone fences, the feel of the breeze coming off the ocean, and the sense of calm from all of this 'simplicity' is best experienced firsthand.
