Magic cookie bars are a special dessert in this house. They were one of my favorites as a child and although they are still a special treat, they remind me of being very young and hardly being able to wait until the pan cooled enough to cut the gooey bars.
Making them is certainly easy enough. You should try making them with kids. It's practically magical. I have 2 young chefs that are always anxious to help in the kitchen. They were enthralled with a name that contained the word "Magic," and just had to be right in the thick of it as we assembled the ingredients.
Magic cookie bars are kid friendly to a point, but once you bake the crust layer, it is too hot for the helpers who find touching irresistible. I recommend having the kids do the measuring and dumping, while you do the sprinkling onto the hot layer. It's a group effort after all. Here is my recipe:
Magic Cookie Bars
1 cup chocolate chips
1 1/2 sticks of butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 packages of graham crackers (a box contains 3) crushed
1 1/3 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
There are many variations of these, so you may have one that is a little bit different than this one. No matter what, this recipe works beautifully and that's really all that matters. I make it on a jelly roll pan, so the pieces are very thin. Most recipes call for a 13X9 cake pan. They are wonderfully thick if made in the smaller pan. I feel that they last longer if made thinner and still cut into generous portions. On to the directions!
Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until moistened
Press into pan evenly
Bake this layer at 350 for 5-8 minutes or until lightly browned
Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over all (I usually add more chocolate at this point)
Sprinkle coconut over all
Pour condensed milk evenly over the entire pan
Bake 20 minutes more at 350 until coconut is lightly browned
Cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting into bars.
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