Recipe: Magic Bars

Okay this story is a little amusing… at least to me anyway. This bar recipe is all over the place, slight variations, but for the most part, the same recipe. Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk even has it on some of their cans.

At one of my last jobs we had a Bake Off… and our Director won the contest with these bars. We loved them! …it was almost unanimous. She didn’t want to win and kept saying these were Magic Bars, as if we knew what that was, and that it was so easy.

We were all clueless… and wanted the recipe… now mind you, this was not a small group of people… we’re talking close to 50 people…none of us had heard of them…she did send out the recipe and I have been making these for several years now… I never noticed the recipe on the can… and here I thought I had a secret recipe….

It was only when I went looking for the recipe and realized I left it at the house in New York… did I start hunting the net for it… I basically remembered the recipe but wanted to see if something similar was out there…. I’ll say it was… many, many times….

So it just goes to show you that recipes you think are widely known, are not always as widely known as you think and the simplest recipes can be tremendous hits.

This recipe on the Eagle Brand can uses 2 cups of chocolate chips. It lists, as a variation, substituting 1 of the cups with butterscotch chips, which is what I do.

It also calls for 1 cup chopped nuts, you can use either walnuts, pecans or a mixture, I use pecans.

The Eagle Brand recipe, and most others, pour the condensed milk over the crumbs then layer the other ingredients, my recipe layers everything except the coconut then pours the condensed milk. It doesn’t make for a soggy crust. Actually both ways work well, experiment and decide what you like best.

If you already have this recipe… great… if you don’t… you have to try it. It’s very sweet but a great addition to a selection of baked goods you put out for friends and family…. and obviously it would probably be a hit at work too!

Magic Bars Recipe:

All you need:

½ cup butter, melted
1 ½ cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans – I used pecans)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/3 cup flaked coconut

All you have to do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees for a metal pan and 325 degrees for a glass pan.

Melt the butter and mix in the graham cracker crumbs. Spread the crumb mixture on the bottom of the baking pan and press down firmly.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the crumbs.

Next sprinkle the butterscotch chips over the previous layer.

Next sprinkle the nuts over the previous layer.

Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the top.

Sprinkle the coconut over the top. Press down on the layers to compact slightly.

Bake for 25 minutes until coconut is lightly browned.

Cool before cutting.