I’m sure we’ve all had Magic Bars before, but sometimes it’s fun to take a classic recipe and play around with it a little. Every Thursday I have dinner guests, one of which doesn’t like coconut…not naming any names (Lindsey!) =). Since she headed back home earlier today, I decided it was my chance to make a dessert with coconut. I traded out the regular graham crackers for cinnamon (because that’s all I had) and used hazelnuts rather than walnuts or pecans. Giada, from Foodnetwork, introduced me to using hazelnuts in desserts several years ago and I have been in love ever since. I keep hazelnuts in the freezer and like to swap them out for other nuts in desserts recipes, especially recipes that also have chocolate! While these bars aren’t really one of my favorite desserts, they are pretty tasty. And if you are looking for something that you can whip up in 15 minutes with minimal dirty dishes then these are a hit.
Magic Cookie Bars
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 stick butter melted
9 cinnamon graham crackers crushed
1 cup chopped hazelnuts
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch-flavored chips
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9×13 pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Spread the coconut on a baking sheet and bake until the outer flakes just begin to brown. Meanwhile, place the stick of butter in the prepared baking pan and put it in the oven to melt, about 6 minutes.
3. When the butter has melted, remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs over the melted butter. Toss lightly until all the butter is absorbed and the crumbs are evenly distributed. In order, sprinkle the hazelnuts, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and coconut over the graham crumbs. Pour the condensed milk evenly over the entire dish.
4. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the top is golden brown, about 25 minutes.
*adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
