This vintage recipe has gone by several names over the years: Hello Dolly Bars, Magic Cookie Bars and Seven Layer Bars. This is one of the easiest recipes around as it doesn’t require a bowl or even a mixing spoon. All you need is a pan and your ingredients.
Magic Bars Recipe
The “magic” is in the layering. There are seven ingredients that are placed in the pan one after another until you have seven layers of sweetness. Bake it, cool it, cut it. As simple as that.
This is the Godfather of one-pan desserts. You don’t need a bowl at all, just the baking pan.
When I made these, one of my teenage sons had several friends over. So it didn’t take long for half the pan to disappear! These are great for bake sales, potlucks, picnics, barbecues, parties and family get togethers. They are super simple to make and always a hit.
Ingredients you need for Magic Bars
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
- 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
ONE-PAN DESSERTS COOKBOOK!
The one-pan dessert is ideal for all occasions including potlucks, holidays, barbecues and birthdays. Several of these desserts do not require baking making them perfect for summer. See ALL my cookbooks here!
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Helpful kitchen tools
- 13×9 baking pan
- Wire cooling rack
- Knife
- Cutting board
More dessert bar recipes
Magic Bars
IMPORTANT - There are often Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Print It Rate ItIngredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
- 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 ½ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Melt butter in the microwave and transfer to a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
- Sprinkle graham crumbs over the top of the melted butter. Sprinkle coconut over the graham cracker crumbs. Sprinkle crumbs with chocolate chips and butterscotch chips. Cover chips with sweetened condensed milk. Sprinkle milk layer with chopped pecans.
- Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven to wire rack and allow to cool before cutting into squares.
Nutrition
Amanda Davis
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Doug says
Absolutely Delicious!! I completely followed the recipe and will make it again…and again.
Carmella Hoffman says
Is there a substitute for the Coconut? My family is not a fan of Coconut, and I’d hate to make them and have them go to waste.
Amanda Davis says
We have not tested this, however you may be able to sub in more ground nuts to replace the coconut. AGAIN we haven’t tested this, so should you decide to experiment we would love to hear your results!
B says
You can play around with this to your liking. I’ve tried adding white chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, butterscotch, heath bar English toffee pieces….uhm whatever nut you prefer if you don’t like pecans. Even try adding m&ms! These were staples of mine in high school (for parties) and college….they also take a decent amount of butter if you want to infuse it ;-)