Seven Layer Magic Bars Recipe
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!
For more Easy Dessert Recipes, be sure to check out my Banana Cake with Vanilla Frosting, The Best Apple Crisp, and Blueberry Sour Cream Pie.
Magic Bars are a guilty weakness of mine. If you’ve never had one before, then I can guarantee after one bite they will become one of yours, too!
These downright irresistible Seven Layer Magic Bars never last long at our house. 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!
What are 7 Layer Bars?
Seven layer bars are an easy, sweet dessert bar made up of seven ingredients. The preparation of these bars is super simple; make the crust, place the crust in the bottom of the pan, then layer the remaining ingredients on top and bake.
What are the 7 layers in 7 Layer Bars?
- graham cracker crumbs
- butter
- chocolate chips
- butterscotch chips
- sweetened flaked coconut
- chopped walnuts (or nuts of choice)
- sweetened condensed milk
How to Make Seven Layer Magic Bars – Step by Step
Step 1: Prepare pan
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 inch baking pan with cooking spray or line with parchment paper and set aside.
Step 2: Make the crust
Melt butter in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in graham cracker crumbs until throughly combined. Press into the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking pan to form the crust.
Step 3: Add the layers
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.
Step 4: Bake
Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until edges are golden brown and the middle is set. Allow to cool completely before slicing.
Tips and Notes for Making the Best 7 Layer Bars
- To make your own graham cracker crumbs, use about 11-12 full graham cracker rectangle sheets for 1 1/2 cups of crumbs.
- Line your pan with parchment paper. It makes removal of your seven layer magic bars much easier, plus makes cleanup better, too. If you line it so that the paper overhangs the sides of your pan, you can use the flaps to lift the bars out of the pan, then place it on a cutting board to slice.
- If lining your pan with parchment paper, crumple it into a ball first! Yes, it sounds a little silly, but crumpling the parchment paper first before laying it in the bottom of your pan will help it to “stay put” and adhere better to the sides of the pan.
- Allow your seven layer bars to cool COMPLETELY before cutting. While I fully admit to sometimes sneaking a warm bite of magic bars straight from the pan, it’s really better to wait until they’re completely cool to cut them. Things can get a little messy otherwise.
- Refrigerate your cooled bars to make cutting smoother. After the bars are cool, you can also place them in the fridge for a couple of hours to help them firm up a bit.
Recipe Swaps and Variations
The base recipe for these seven layer magic bars is tried and true and needs no changes, but if you want to switch things up, here are some ideas:
- Use vanilla wafers, cinnamon graham crackers, or shortbread cookies in place of regular graham cracker crumbs
- Swap the chocolate chips or butterscotch chips with white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or toffee bits
- Add in dried fruit like raisins or Craisins
- Swap the chopped walnuts for any nut you like. Chopped pecans are my other go-to. You can also leave them out completely for a nut allergy.
- Add some chopped pretzels for a sweet and salty twist.
- If coconut isn’t your thing, you can definitely leave it out!
Storing and Freezing Seven Layer Magic Bars
You can store your Seven Layer Magic Bars in an airtight container on the counter for up to five days. You can also store them in the fridge.
7 Layer Bars also freeze perfectly! Place the cut bars in an freezer safe container or large ziplock bag for up to 6 months. Allow the bars to thaw on the counter top or in the fridge before enjoying them.
If you try this recipe, please leave a comment and rating below. I love to hear from you and always appreciate your feedback!
Recipe: 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 9×13 inch baking pan with cooking spray or line with parchment paper 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 9×13 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!
Notes
- To make your own graham cracker crumbs, use about 11-12 full graham cracker rectangle sheets for 1 1/2 cups of crumbs.
- Line your pan with parchment paper. It makes removal of your seven layer magic bars much easier, plus makes cleanup better, too. If you line it so that the paper overhangs the sides of your pan, you can use the flaps to lift the bars out of the pan, then place it on a cutting board to slice.
- If lining your pan with parchment paper, crumple it into a ball first! Yes, it sounds a little silly, but crumpling the parchment paper first before laying it in the bottom of your pan will help it to “stay put” and adhere better to the sides of the pan.
- Allow your seven layer bars to cool COMPLETELY before cutting. While I fully admit to sometimes sneaking a warm bite of magic bars straight from the pan, it’s really better to wait until they’re completely cool to cut them. Things can get a little messy otherwise.
- Refrigerate your cooled bars to make cutting smoother. After the bars are cool, you can also place them in the fridge for a couple of hours to help them firm up a bit.
I found a different way to do the crust! It works SO WELL! put a stick of butter on your wax paper-lined pan, melt it in the oven. Sprinkle your crushed Graham crackers evenly over the melted butter. Then pour the sweetened condensed milk. Then add the other ingredients 1 at a time. Bake 25 mins at 350. PERFECTION!
I made these yesterday for the 4th of july… but our festivities got rained out! Poor me, guess I have to eat them 😋 I didn’t have the butterscotch chips on hand. But they are still so good!!
I am LOVING this tip! Thank you for sharing, Melissa!
Never bake with waxed paper , parchment paper is for baking .
Thank you for sharing this!!!
Didn’t the butter get under the wax paper? My grandmother always taught me to melt the butter in the oven and then add the gram crackers but using was paper I get scared it’s going to melt underneath. Also you put the condensed milk before the toppings and it all stayed together?
Me too I melt a stick of butter in a sprayed 8×13 pan then add cracker crumbs press to make crust then add the remaining layers. For a twist if you don’t like butterscotch or want something different substitute. Peanut butter chips instead
I always had problems with the Graham cracker crust falling apart for my magic cookie bars until I found this tip in the comment section about lining the pan with parchment paper and melting the butter in the oven then sprinkling it with the Graham cracker and condensed milk; it totally bind the crust together so well!! I actually used half the condensed milk for the crust and then saved the rest to sprinkle on top; this is by far one of the best recipe for magic cookie bars!
Baked these at 350 for like 15 minutes and they were totally burnt. So confused since no other comments say this. Sad.
Any chance it could be your oven? I just made these and they turned out perfectly. I took them out after 25 minutes. Consider calibrating your oven. I’ve had an oven get too hot, in the past, too. Good luck!
mine actually took like 35 mins!
Maybe look into buying a oven thermometer, that’s what I did… perfection every time.
350°F=177°C
Perhaps your oven temperature was set at °C?
Do you think it would be okay to add coarsely chopped pretzels along with everything else?
Yes, that sounds delicious!
So..where is the 7th layer?
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
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?
Unsalted!
These are delicious and so easy!!! Thank you for sharing!!!
My family loved these. Ran out Chocolate Chips & added White Chocolate Chips 50/50 Blend. Fantastic !
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.
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.
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!!!
Those sound so good I love cashews let me know if got the crust down to a science I love making my own recipes out of standard ones. Thank you
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.
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
Yes that would work fine!
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!!
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.
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!
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
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.
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.
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.