GRAHAM CRACKER COOKIE BARS

Graham Cracker Cookie Bars, with or without coconut, has a graham cracker crust topped with layers of ingredients. The ingredients are held together by sweetened condensed milk that turns into caramel when baked.

GRAHAM CRACKER COOKIE BARS

The basic recipe is also known as Magic Cookie Bars, Seven Layer Bars, 7 Layer Magic Bars, Hello Dolly Bars, and the list probably goes on and on. The original recipe had graham cracker crust, layers of butterscotch, coconut, chocolate, and nuts. The recipe is easy to change and manipulate just by altering some ingredients.

This recipe has been around for years because it’s so simple and delicious. It’s one of the first recipes that many kids learn to make. (My second grader did everything except process the graham cracker crumbs and open the sweetened condensed milk!

Graham Cracker Cookie Bars Method

The hardest part of this recipe is letting them cool before you cut them. If you don’t, they’ll crumble into a million sloppy pieces, although they’ll still taste good!

Here’s what you need to make this recipe, plus one stick of butter.

Melt butter in the 9×13-inch baking pan.

Layer the next ingredients in order of the recipe. First, sprinkle the graham crackers crumbs over the melted butter.

Next, scatter the coconut over the graham cracker crumbs. Omit the coconut if you don’t like it. You don’t need to substitute another ingredient.

Next up is the mini-chocolate chips. If you don’t have mini chips, you can use regular sizes.

Sprinkle the peanut butter chips over the chocolate chips and continue with the recipe.

Candy-coated chocolate is most commonly known as M&M candies. You can use any flavor. They have a lot of different flavors now. I typically stick with the traditional chocolate candies.

Finally, spread the peanut evenly over the other ingredients. You can omit the peanuts or use another nut.

The Magic

The magic ingredient that binds all the other ingredients together is the sweetened condensed milk. Pour it evenly over the other ingredients.

Give the pan a couple of gentle bangs on the countertop to compact the ingredients. There’s no need to spread it with a spatula. The sweetened condensed milk will ooze into all the nooks and crannies when it gets hot.

You’re now ready to bake the bars.

Remember to let the bars cool before cutting. If needed, you can speed up the cooling process by putting them in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

While you’re here, check out these recipes

1. Muddy Buddy Bars
2. Lemon Curd Fluff Bars
3. Oatmeal Caramel Crush Bars
4. Peanut Butter M&M Truffles
5. Caramel Chocolate Mud Hen Bars
6. Pecan Pie Magic Cookie Bars
7. Graham Cracker Blondies

Please remember that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary based on the products used.

I updated this post from an earlier version. I made new photos and simplified the recipe instructions.