Magic Bars

Magic bars is a vintage cookie bar recipe from the 1960s that we tweaked to make as simple as possible. We used unsweetened coconut, added some flaky salt, and simplified the amounts of each ingredient as well as the procedure. These bars magically come together in the pan, no need to dirty a bowl. They turned out pretty darn good.

1 sleeve graham crackers
1 stick butter
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups unsweetened flake coconut
1 cup chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts, etc.)
2 cups chocolate chips
1 teaspoon flaky salt

1. Unwrap the butter and place in a 9 x 13 baking pan. Spray the sides of the pan with cooking spray. Place pan in the oven and heat oven to 350°F.
2. Grind the graham crackers in a food processor until fine. When the oven is ready and the butter is melted, remove pan from oven. Pour the graham cracker crumbs into the pan and mix with the butter using a rubber spatula. Spread the mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan and pat down with the spatula. Don’t worry if it’s a bit rough and there are a few bare patches.
3. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the crust. Sprinkle with the remaining ingredients and pat down gently with your hands. Bake for 25 minutes until browned around the edges. Let cool and cut into squares. These bars freeze well, if they last that long.