I’ve always loved Seven Layer Bars or Magic Bars.
Same recipe but people call it by different names depending on where they live.
The bars are super soft, gooey, decadent, and have an amazing amount of texture and different flavors in every bite.
It’s a one-bowl, no mixer recipe that’s fast, easy, and goofproof. Waiting for them to cool is the hardest part.
Rather than making the bars with a classic graham cracker crust, I made a chocolate chip cookie crust. I used one package of Pamela’s Gluten-Free Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix. The crust is so easy because all you do is stir together melted butter, the mix, an egg, and press it into the pan. The cookie crust was a great twist and we loved it.
Adding chocolate chips boosts the overall chocolate factor, and instead of the traditional butterscotch chips I used peanut butter chips because you can never have too much peanut butter.
The coconut adds chewiness and texture while the creamy sweetened condensed milk coats the ingredients and gives the bars their signature gooey factor. And just like magic, the bars disappeared so fast.
Pin This Recipe
Enjoy AverieCooks.com Without Ads! 🆕
Go Ad Free
Chocolate Chip Cookie Magic Bars
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- one 13.6-ounce package Pamela’s Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips may be substituted
- 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut flakes, measured loosely not packed
- about two-thirds can, 14-ounce sweetened condensed milk (eyeball it)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside. Do not skip lining your pan because clean-up will be more difficult.
- To a large, microwave-safe bowl add the butter and heat on high power to melt, about 1 minute.
- Add the cookie mix, egg, and stir to combine.
- Turn dough out into prepared pan and using a spatula or your fingertips, create an even, smooth, flat crust.
- Evenly sprinkle with the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and coconut.
- Evenly drizzle sweetened condensed milk over the top.
- Bake for about 30 minutes (I baked 27), or until lightly golden brown around edges and barely bubbling in the center, and the center is mostly set. Keep an extremely close eye on bars in the final 10 minutes of baking because coconut can go from raw-looking to burnt in one minute. If necessary, tent the pan (cover pan with a sheet of foil) in the last 5 minutes of baking to help prevent the coconut from burning if center isn’t quite set but coconut is looking browned enough.
- Place pan on a wire rack and allow bars to cool in pan for at least 2 hours, or overnight, before slicing and serving. Bars firm up and will look less ‘juicy’ as they cool, however even when fully cooled and set, they’re very moist and juicy. Bars will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
©averiecooks.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
Related Recipes
Seven Layer Bars – The classic bars with Rolo candies baked in!
Magic Eight Bars – The classic, made with an extra layer!
Caramel and Chocolate Gooey Bars (GF) – Lots of caramel, chocolate, and great texture from the oats!
Soft and Chewy Seven Layer Magic Bar Cookies – All the ingredients in the classic bars, but baked in cookies! They’re loaded with graham crackers, coconut, butterscotch & chocolate!
Carmelitas – Easy one-bowl, no-mixer recipe. With a name like that, they have to be good!
Fudgy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars – Chewy bars with a thick layer of fudge in the middle! Whoa, hello chocolate overload!
Caramel Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Gooey Bars – Keep the napkins handy for these soft, gooey bars dripping with the best caramel-peanut butter sauce!
Cookie Butter Funfetti Triple Chip Bars – Now you know what to do with your cookie butter!
Coconut Peanut Butter Magic Cake Bars – Loved these so much I put them in my first cookbook!
Avery I’ve been looking all over for a Magic bar receipe.l haven’t made it for year’s,so I was excited to find yours I remembered the ingrediants but forgot the amounts. I m an old Senior (82) and use used to make them a lot for my 5 children.We all loved them so much! I’m talking 50 yrs ago.At this time all they had were chocolate chips,no peanut butter or butterscotch. I think we used marshmallows.I used to freeze my bars for Christmas in foil and coffee can,but those sneaky kids got into them and ate them frozen.Maybe when I was sleeping
!!
Glad that my recipe brought back 50+ year old memories for you! And yes, I remember my grandma freezing things like this in Folgers cans and somehow, we used to find a way to get to everything and eat it all :)
Want to take it in breakfast!!!!
Hi Averie. I was wondering how long it typically takes to thaw the bars once they’ve been frozen. Do you warm them in the oven again or do you just let them sit room temp? Also, does it end up affecting the texture at all?
Is there a way to do it w/o the gluten free crust? I don’t have access to that.
You could probably just use another pre-made dry cookie dough mix in a pouch, available in almost any grocery store, i.e. Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines, etc.
totally in love with the fact that you used ccc as the base instead of graham!!! YUM
The coconut is the magic for me here :)
I need these bars for breakfast!!
These bars look insanely good! :)
These look delicious. I am so excited to try this recipe. Thanks for sharing
I’ve never heard of these at all! I’m glad I have now, because they look so darn good. I think one would go perfect with my morning coffee. Oh. They aren’t for breakfast?! That’s ok, we won’t tell anybody. ;-)