Magic Cookie Bars

I grew up calling these Magic Cookie Bars.  But I’ve also seen them called 7 Layer Bars, as well as a few other things, which aren’t coming to mind just now.  Personally, I think the name Magic Cookie Bars is what best describes them, because they are just that.  Basically, you spread a few basic ingredients in a pan, drizzle on some sweetened condensed milk, pop the whole thing into the oven for a bit, and you end up with this amazing, chocolately, chewy, cookie bar goodness. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• 1 Pkg graham crackers
• 4 Tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• ½ cup each of chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, chopped pecans, broken pretzels
• ¾ cup shredded, sweetened coconut
• ½ can sweetened condensed milk (about ⅔ cup) 

First, melt your butter and set it aside.  Then, for the crust, the graham crackers need to be crushed.  I have decided the easiest way to do this is to slide them into a ziplock bag.

Then just seal it up and go over them with a rolling pin.  See?  Perfect crumbs.   

The advantage to doing it this way is that you have no dishes to clean.  Just pour the melted butter right into the bag. 

Shake the crumbs until you have something that looks like wet sand. 

Dump that into a parchment lined 8x8 pan.

Spread it to the edges and press it with something flat, or even just your hand.  Place that into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.  Longer is fine.  During that time, preheat your oven to 350°

When you’re ready, pull out the crust and sprinkle on both chocolate chips, pecans, and pretzels.  Just a quick tip.  To get small pieces of pretzels, you’ll want to use the bag and rolling pin trick again.  I tried just chopping mine and ended up with some of them flying across the kitchen.  Not my most brilliant moment. 

On top, goes the coconut.

Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the top. 

I only put pecans in half of mine because Hubby is allergic to them, so I marked that half with a pecan on top.  As you can see, they don’t look like anything special.  In fact, not really even that appetizing, but just you wait. 

Here comes the magic part.  Pop them into the oven for 35 minutes and you have gone from “Meh” to “Holy crap those look good!”

Allow them to cool completely before cutting them if you can.  It won’t be easy, because they smell every bit as delicious as they look. 

 

Welcome to May-hem 2014!

Here at Authors Kitchen, we have a bit of a tradition. It isn’t one we engineered for ourselves, rather, we just embrace the chaos that May likes to throw our way.  Well, this year is no exception.  In fact, I am making yet another cross country move.  This will make three big moves in four years, and all of them have been in May.  So welcome to May-hem!  First up, coconut limeade. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 ¼ cups fresh squeezed lime juice
• 2 liters coconut water 

In a small saucepan, place your sugar and pour over two cups of coconut water. 

Turn it on medium heat, and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.  No need to bring it to a boil or anything.  As soon as the sugar is dissolved, just turn off the heat and set it aside. 

Now for the limes. When you’re making something like this, it’s very important to juice your own limes.  I seriously love this press juicer for stuff like this, but if you don’t have one, you can use any reamer or just squeeze them by hand. 

When you have 1 ¼ cups, go ahead and pour it into a pitcher. 

Pour in the remaining coconut water.

And last, but not least, add the syrup. 

Then just stir it all together and put it into the fridge to chill. 

Now, I have to be honest, the end result of this recipe didn’t turn out quite like I had hoped.  Coconut water has a bit of a salty flavor, which made for an excellent flavor with the lime.  Unfortunately, it also has a slightly viscous consistency.  If you’re a fan of coconut water and don’t mind the somewhat weird mouth feel, definitely give this a try.  Otherwise, I will soon post a recipe for something similar, not using the coconut water.  Although, it might be safer to save it for June, so I don’t end up with two questionable lime drinks this month. 

Which month of the year seems to throw you curveballs?