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.
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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.
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Wow… that magic bars look absolutely delicious!
Om nom nom nom! Those look tasty, great job Averie :)
Now you’re speaking my love language!
You’re the Magic Bar QUEEN :)
Such a fantastic idea to use the cookie base!! Oh the possibilities…. :)
Between the two of us, I think we’ve made more combinations of bars than any two other bloggers :)
I was just thinking, “maybe I should do a month of no sugar”… and then I saw this and changed my mind ;)
Paige
https://thehappyflammily.com
ok :) thank you SO much!!
Thank you! i think we are either going to try Werther’s chewy caramels, or Werther’s soft caramels, which do you think would be more like the Werthers baking caramels?
Hard for me to say since I haven’t tried them…I’d go squeeze them in the package and use your best judgment :)
Hi my name is molly-ann I know this is totally out of the blue but me and a friend just made your carmeltias which were AMAZING!!!!!! we LOVED them SO much!! we want to make them again but we can’t find the werthers baking caramels anymore, me and my mom got the last bag the first time. But we can’t find them anymore and we found out they’re seasonal! have you tried a different carmel before? did they turn out the same?
Thanks for trying the Carmelistas recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! I haven’t tried it with other caramels but I know readers have and some have even used Trader Joe’s jarred caramel sauce. If you read through the comments there’s a lot of info about what’s been done, tried, and has worked!
Averie, as always your bars look fabulous and mouth watering you can ever go wrong by adding chocolate chips and peanut butter chips! we plan on driving 10 hours from NY to Tennessee at the end of July and I am looking for bars/cookies that would hold well in the car for our trip, because obviously I can’t travel without dessert, I am sure that my husband and our friends would love to munch on these!
These would be an amazing car snack, and then some :)
Oh wow, these look too AWESOME. Love that you used chocolate chip cookie dough!! :)
Magic Bars are awesome!! Great idea to use chocolate chip cookie dough as the base. I recently added peanut butter chips to my last batch too instead of butterscotch and loved it! I also added peanuts for an extra crunch too :)
The great thing about Magic Bars is you can doctor them up and sub/swap things like the PB chips and even peanuts and it all seems to work!
I’m obsessed with these gorgeous bars! Believe it or not, I’ve never had a magic bar in my life and I seriously don’t even know what’s holding me back because these look beyondddd easy to whip up all the time!
You definitely need to try a Magic Bar…you’ll be hooked!
Magic cookie bars are my FAVORITE food in the world. These look wonderful. Can’t wait to make them!!
They’re one of my absolute faves, too!
I love the cookie crust and PB chip twist in these magic bars! I have a coworker with a gluten intolerance and she’d love these. I think the gluten free mixes have really improved over the years in terms of texture and flavor. I’d probably have to do a side by side taste test to appreciate the difference.
Paula I couldn’t even tell they were GF in the least. There is SO much going on in these bars but even if there wasn’t, when I was mixing up the dough and just touching it and feeling it and taste-testing it before I put on any of the other ingredients, it’s really smooth and there is none of that grit or chalky weirdness of years past. Your coworker (and everyone else!) would love these!
Confession time:
I’ve NEVER had a magic bar. EVER.
I know, I am totally missing out on all things delicious. I am thinking these look like the perfect way to start because I LOVE Pamelas Products! Pinned!
I grant you an out on this one because you’re Canadian :) but you will need to try Magic Bars! Thanks for pinning and glad you love Pamela’s!
I love using chocolate chip cookie dough as magic bar crust. When I’m short on time, I use refrigerated dough. They come out all gooey and delicious! And I’ve had that mix. It’s great!
That’s awesome you’ve used this Pamela’s mix before! And refrigerated dough sounds like a great little shortcut and as long as it’s gooey and delicious, doesn’t matter how you got there :)