Dream Bars

Dream Bars - made February 17, 2014 from The Flying Brownie

After the Salted Caramel Toffee Macaroons, I had to use up the remaining can of sweetened condensed milk and there's no better way than to make magic cookie bars. Or Dream Bars as The Flying Brownie calls them. Especially since these were also going in the care packages I was sending out that week.

Magic Cookie Bars or, er, sorry, Dream Bars, are great to make when you have a little bit of everything on hand and want to use it up. In my case, I had opened packages of butterscotch chips, almonds, chocolate chips, toffee and coconut. I also had an excuse reason to open up the package of Oreos I bought for holiday baking but never used. Until now.

They're also very forgiving because no matter what you throw in there, anything with an Oreo crust and topped with sweetened condensed milk that caramelizes as it bakes is just going to be chewy goodness. This was no exception. Feel free to experiment. I didn't measure out the chips or the coconut but just kept adding them until it looked right. Meaning the Oreo crust was blanketed and the bars looked to be the right thickness.

1 cup chocolate cookie crumbs (I used Oreos)
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
1/4 cup peanut butter chips (I used butterscotch chips)
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds or pecans (I used almonds)
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (I used sweetened flaked coconut)
1/2 cup milk chocolate toffee bits, optional
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8" square baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium-size bowl, combine the cookie crumbs with the melted butter. Using a spatula, mix thoroughly, making sure all the crumbs get coated with butter. Transfer the crumbs to the prepared pan and press evenly into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium-size bowl, combine the semisweet chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, nuts and coconut. Stir to combine. Evenly distribute the mixture over the cooled crust and then drizzle the sweetened condensed milk on top. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the top is golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.
4. Let cool in the pan on a rack. Lift by the foil handles and cut into 16 squares.