Plated + Served: Dream Cookie Bars
Sis had a bake sale at school, so guess who got stuck making the cookies?
WRONG!
Sis made ‘em because she knows this is one recipe that will turn out perfectly (when it comes to anything having to do with the kitchen, well, let’s just say Sistie is a great singer).
Anyway, she wanted to make something extra special, so she pulled a “Mama” and cleaned the pantry of all the leftover sweet add-ins that have been hanging out since Easter and Valentines Day.
The standard recipe for Magic Cookie Bars calls for a graham cracker crust, sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, coconut and nuts. Well, Sis is nut free… so she dug around and found a whole bunch of other things that work just as well. She also gave them a new name, “Dream Cookie Bars,” since she took some liberties with the original recipe.
Exit Nuts! Enter butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips, Kraft Jet-Puffed Mallow Bits and Mini Milk Chocolate Chips. Oh, and she used non-fat sweetened condensed milk… like that’ll make much of a difference on the calorie front.
This was the first real cookie recipe Aba taught me (not counting, of course, the Pillsbury Slice and Bake Sugar Cookies… sheesh). I hate throwing Aba under the bus, but when I was little I thought she was such a great baker because she could make these cookies… which had so many ingredients and seemed so complicated but always tasted so delicious.
Little did I know that years later I’d be passing the same recipe on to my own daughter… there’s something comforting and, obviously, sweet about that thought.
Dream Cookie Bars
prep: 5 minutes
cook: 25 to 30 minutes
you’ll need…
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup sugar
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 can (14 oz.) sweet condensed milk (non-fat, low-fat or regular)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 ½ cup flaked coconut
1 cup marshmallow bits
let’s get to it…
Heat oven to 350°F. Line a 13 X 9-inch baking pan with foil, extending foil over the edge of the pan. Coat lightly with non-stick spray.
Combine graham crumbs, sugar and melted butter together in a small bowl with a fork until mixed. Press mixture into foil-lined pan.
Drizzle sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumbs.
Sprinkle with chocolate, white chocolate and butterscotch chips. Top with coconut and marshmallow bits.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until coconut is lightly browned. Loosen from sides of pan while still warm; cool on a wire rack.
Lift up edges of foil to remove from pan. Cut into bars. Store, loosely covered, at room temperature.
Kraft Jet-Puffed Mallow Bits
