It’s not the prettiest of the bunch but it’s a classic and an evergreen holiday favorite. Today, Day 7, it’s Magic Cookie Bars. The base dough is pressed into a pan, topped with a mixture of chocolate chips, unsweetened coconut, pecans and sweetened condensed milk. As it bakes, the butter dough gets nice and crispy, the chocolate melts ever so slightly and the condensed milk bubbles up and caramelizes amongst it all. It’s quite tasty.
This one is pretty traditional with a few slight changes. The base cookie dough stands in for the graham cracker crumb base, two kinds of chocolate are put to good use – bittersweet and milk – and I greatly prefer the big coconut flakes to the regular old shredded. That might necessitate a trip to a store like Whole Foods but I believe it’s worth it. Have at it.
If you do the smaller pan, you only need half a can of condensed milk. I hear there are petite 7oz cans out there but I’ve yet to find them so get out the scale and use the rest in other things. What exactly, you say? Well, sweeten your coffee for one but here are some more ideas.
12 Days of Cookies from years past:
Fruity: Jam Thumbprints, Jam Streusel Tarts, Raspberry Linzer Squares, Lemon Poppyseed Buttons, Orange Sesame Crisps, Cranberry Pistachio Coins, Almond Raspberry Strips, Orange Sandwich Cookies, Apricot Rosemary Shortbread, Coconut Lime Sticks, Bourbon Glazed Fruitcake Buttons, Lemon Cornmeal Biscotti, Blueberry Lime Buttons, Date Swirls
Nutty: Mexican Wedding Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, Pecan Tassies, Maple Black Walnut Cookies, PB&J Sandwich Cookies, Pecan Triangles,
Spiced: Cinnamon Sugar Pinwheels, Candied Ginger Spice Buttons, Cardamom Rose Coins, Brown Sugar Wafers with Lemon Lavender Glaze
Chocolate: Basic Chocolate Butter Cookie Dough, Mexican Chocolate Crinkles, Chocolate Cocoa Nib Wafers,Raspberry Chocolate Drops, Chocolate Hazelnut Buttons, Dark Mocha Sandwich Cookies, Espresso Crinkles, Cranberry Cocoa Nib Wafers, Chocolate Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies, Chocolate Lebkuchen, Fudge Tarts, Chocolate Marzipan Drops, Chocolate Coconut Bullseyes, Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies, Chocolate Almond Crescents, Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies
Bars: Rum Butter Bars, Peppermint Brownie Bars, Banana Walnut Bars, Chocolate Banana Petit Fours
Holiday Classics: Cream Cheese Wreaths, Classic Molasses Cookies, Peppermint Candy Canes, Andes Mint Chip Cookies, Holiday Mallomars
This year:
Basic Butter Cookie Dough for all recipes
Day 1: Sparkly Sugar Cookies
Day 2: Pecan Praline Bars
Day 3: Earl Grey Sandwich Cookies
Day 4: Butter Brickle Cookies
Day 5: Maple Glazed Spiced Sweet Potato Cookies
Day 6: Garam Masala Shortbread
MAGIC COOKIE BARS
Base Butter Cookie Dough – recipe here
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- For the cookie base: Line a pan (with at least 2” sides) with a crisscross of aluminum foil, pressing to make as smooth as possible. Parchment will work but foil works better with hot bubbling sugar.
- Crumble the base cookie dough into the pan and press to form an even, level layer, pressing down to compact. The easiest way to do this is to crumble the dough into the pan, starting with the corners, and press to form an even layer. Then top the dough with a scrap of parchment and smooth with your fingers. Chill for 30 minutes.
- Mix the salt with the pecans and set aside.
- Pour about ¾ of the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the crust and spread it out into an even layer. (Note: for the smaller batch you will use half of the 14oz can total).
- Sprinkle half the chocolate and half the pecans evenly over the surface.
- Sprinkle the coconut on in an even layer, then the remaining pecans and chocolate.
- Drizzle the rest of the condensed milk on top.
- Bake until toppings are evenly golden brown and the condensed milk has bubbled and turned golden, about 30 minutes.
- Let cool in the pan on a wire rack.
- To serve, lift the bar out of the pan using the foil, transfer to a cutting board and cut into small squares.
STRESSCAKE 