Seven Layer Magic Bars – A buttery graham cracker crust is topped with layers of chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coconut, chopped nuts, and then finished off with a blanket of sweetened condensed milk. These will not last long!
Hey y’all, and Happy Wednesday! Today is an exciting day because my little girl is starting “preschool” today!
I put preschool in quotes because the program is technically a Mother’s Day Out Program. But she’ll still be learning stuff, right?!
And mommy gets a break to do more work here on the good ole blog! It’s a win-win for us all!
In celebration, I’m sharing these downright irresistible Seven Layer Magic Bars with y’all today. I’m telling you right now that you will not be able to stop at just one of these bad boys.
Or five.
Believe me on this. I’ve walked that line already, folks.
These seven layer magic bars actually came about because I needed an quick and easy “thank-you” treat to give to one of our new neighbors last week.
It all started last Saturday night when I decided to lace up my running shoes and go for my first run since moving into our new house (and really my first run in a couple months; OUCH!).
On my way out the door, I realized that I had forgotten my sunglasses and ran back in to grab them off of the kitchen counter, leaving the front door open for mere seconds. I went for my run (which was sooooooooo hot; goodness I miss those mild Hawaii temps!) then came back home and started helping my hubby get the kids ready for bed.
Sometime during the bedtime routine we realized that our bulldog Daisy was missing.
We looked for her all over the house, in the backyard, inside of closets, even under all the beds, even though she’s too much of a chunky monkey to fit under any of them!
It was only after searching everywhere in the house that it dawned on me; she had gotten out when I had gone for my run!
We grabbed the kids, hopped into our cars, and spent the next hour driving around searching our neighborhood and the surrounding area.
After a good bit of time searching and asking neighbors if they had seen her, it had gotten dark. At that point she had been missing for over two hours.
I was in full blown panic mode because not only is Daisy a bulldog who overheats easily (especially in this blazing Texas heat.) But she is also completely blind in one eye and has extremely limited vision in the other. She’s also a senior citizen.
It was not looking good and I was on the verge of a breakdown. Though I was trying my best to hold it together in front of the kids.
We finally decided to head home and look for ways to post about her missing online. On our way back, I noticed a furry white blur run behind a truck parked in a neighbor’s driveway.
I slowed down and the guy who lived there waved at us as I hopped out. I ran around to the back of the truck and there she was, y’all, in all of her drooly, wrinkly glory!
She had been with them nearly the entire time she was missing (they had even prevented her from running out into a busy road) and had kept her safe until we found her.
They live on a street just a couple down from ours and I had even passed their house during my run, TWICE! I was so thankful to them for finding her!
I considered making my Oreo Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars or some Butterscotch Banana Bread as a way of saying thank-you to them, but ultimately I decided to make these Seven Layer Magic Bars.
I bet you will have a hard time resisting these little bars of deliciousness.
Especially if you read that whole crazy long story. You totally deserve one now!
As a side note, I normally tend to leave nuts out of recipes because of my son’s allergy. But since he wasn’t going to be eating any of these (they were just for the neighbors and…. ahem… me) I decided to keep them in.
That little bit of crunch they give is just so yummy.
More Great Dessert Recipes
- The Best Apple Crisp
- Pina Colada Poke Cake
- Christmas Candy Cookie Bark
- Soft Sour Cream Sugar Cookies
Seven Layer Magic Bars
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
- 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 inch baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- Melt butter in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in graham cracker crumbs until throughly combined. Press into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking pan to form the crust.
- Evenly sprinkle remaining ingredients one by one over the crust to form layers, beginning with the chocolate chips, followed by the butterscotch chips, coconut, and walnuts. Pour the condensed milk evenly over the top, and spread with a rubber spatula to make sure it's evenly distributed.
- Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until edges are golden brown and the middle is set.
- Allow to cool completely before slicing. Enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
If you like these Seven Layer Magic Bars, then you might also like:
Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
Kelly says
Baked these at 350 for like 15 minutes and they were totally burnt. So confused since no other comments say this. Sad.
Sandi says
Do you think it would be okay to add coarsely chopped pretzels along with everything else?
Ashlyn Edwards says
Yes, that sounds delicious!
Heather says
So..where is the 7th layer?
Kay says
Each ingredient is considered as a layer. The graham crackers and butter are two layers instead of 1. It’s really 6 layers unless you add something else on it like pretzels or m&m’s
T.M. Myers says
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I’m looking forward to making them.
Just a quick question. The butter… do you recommend salted or unsalted?
Ashlyn Edwards says
Unsalted!
Edna says
These are delicious and so easy!!! Thank you for sharing!!!
Laura Oaks says
My family loved these. Ran out Chocolate Chips & added White Chocolate Chips 50/50 Blend. Fantastic !
Barbara says
I cool the bars a little then put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes or so, then take them out and cut them up. Makes it much easier to cut them and have them stay intact.
Heather says
I accidentally left out the sweetened condensed milk and put it in after the bars were already in the oven for 10 min. I proceeded to bake it for another 15 min. The bars are cooled now, but they are a little gooey. Are they typically hard once fully cooled? I was afraid of burning the rest of it since the edges were golden brown. Haha, I’m trying to figure out if I can salvage my mistake or start over! They taste delish all the same, but I remember this treat being more solid when my grandma makes them.
Maria says
I made these last night. I omitted the coconut and changed the nuts to cashews.
They were amazing.
But crust was hard to spread in a 9×13 pan. Will either use smaller pan or make more crust. They also were a tad over baked. Oops.
But Delicious!!!
Mike says
My family has made these for Christmas at least since the ’70s; they are affectionately known as “yum yum bars”. Exact same recipe except that we use nilla wafer crumbs rather than graham cracker crumbs for the crust. I prefer pecans over walnuts.
Regina says
Do you think they would still work if I added peanut butter chips too ;). I bought them because I remembered this recipe from when I was young and thought that they were in there too…might just give it a try
Ashlyn Edwards says
Yes that would work fine!
Lisa Bradfield says
When it comes to most recipes you can as more as less as different toppings.. I added an extra cup of Graham crumbs about an addition 2 Tbs of butter, tossed in a while bag of milk chocolate chips and unmeasured handfuls of copied walnuts, then the same 1 can of condensed sweetened milk. If you lived around the 80’s you know what that’s’the bomb” is.
And these are My TOTALLY LOADED MAGIC COOKIE BARS! BOMB!!
Lorie Shewbridge says
I’ve made these but because my husband and I don’t eat nuts, I omit the walnuts and replace them with an equal amount of white chocolate chips. It tastes delicious and is just sweet enough for a bite-size snack after dinner or mid-afternoon.
Thanks for all the great recipient, I cannot wait to try more.
Vinny Pastrami says
I’m planning on making these for the first time today. I noticed quite a few commenters noting that ingredient quantities could be increased, so I will try bumping everything up by a third. As I don’t have more than one can of sweetened condensed milk on hand, but I do have a bottle of Coco Real Cream of Coconut that I use to mix tropical drinks, I plan on mixing a third of a cup of that with my can of sweetened condensed milk. I also will toast the coconut, use toasted pecans instead of walnuts and add some white chocolate chips to the mix. I can’t wait to try these bars once done!
Anna Z says
These were amazingly good. I’m not a huge fan of sweetened condensed milk, with the exception of using it to make dulce de leche, but this recipe was surprisingly delicious. And you are right, they are addictive!
The only issue I had was my graham cracker crust came out extremely hard and tough and the bars were very hard to remove from the pan even though I followed your directions and made sure to spray/ grease my pan.
Do you think they may have been overdone? I did not go over the maximum baking time.
I’m not giving up though. I’m going to give it another shot because even with the tough crust they were that good! =p
Alba says
I wait till the bars are completely cool then turn pan upside down and proceed to cut in squares. I do that with all bars. Easy and not problem taking out of pan.
jean says
I would put a layer of parchment paper underneath and let the sides overhang. Then once a little cool lift the paper out with the bars and cool more that way. Perhaps put the pan on a baking sheet and cook the bars on a higher rack away from the bottom to stop them from overcooking.
Carol says
Over baked different times for ovens (depending on your oven as to how long to bake) I refrigerate & they come out like a charm, you’ll find the right time after making a few batches.
Priya Lakshminarayan says
wow I am drooling over this! Perfect for the holidays
Vicky says
I love the addition of the butterscotch chips and walnuts to this traditional recipe! Can’t wait to try these out on the family!
Jessica Formicola says
Oh my goodness, seven layers of deliciousness! I can’t wait to make these bars!
Tara says
Oh yum! You had me at blanket of sweetened condensed milk. These bars sound incredible with all those ingredients and textures!
Rosemary Manseau says
Can you freeze these bars?
Ashlyn Edwards says
Yes!
Linda says
Could you put a layer on mini marshmallows on this?
Ashlyn Edwards says
Hi Linda, I haven’t tried that before so I’m not sure how it would turn out. If you give it a try, please let me know how it turns out!
Sheila Jupina says
Lol, you mean you have leftovers????