This is one of those recipes where you should click on
the title of the blog post to go to the original blog I got the recipe from and
you can see what they’re supposed to look like. If you go by my pictures, you
may not be tempted to make these. Mine are a far cry from the original. It’s my
own fault since I took certain liberties with the recipe.
First, I didn’t have chocolate graham crackers and I
didn’t want to bother getting any since I already had a box and a half of
regular graham cracker crumbs I wanted to use up. Second, I didn’t want to buy
sliced almonds either because I wanted to use up the pecans in my freezer. The
results of my baking willfulness is up for everyone to see.
Fortunately I care more about taste than appearance and
these were rather tasty. Then again, I love all things coconut so that didn’t
hurt. They did make a thicker bar than I expected, especially the bottom layer
so next time I might try them in a 9 x 9-inch baking pan instead. One trick I
did learn from the recipe because my magic cookie bars always end up way more
brown than what the original blog showed is to tent a piece of foil loosely
over the pan halfway through baking pan. That’ll prevent further browning while
continuing the bake the cookie bars. I’ve always known the foil trick but I had
never thought to apply it to magic cookie bars. I tried it and it worked but I
was a little concerned that the bars then looked anemic and a bit raw when
technically they weren’t. But because I thought they did, I baked them a little
longer than I might normally have. The bottom layer wasn’t dry but it wasn’t as
moist as I would’ve preferred.
Ah, a reminder of why I try not to test out new recipes
for the holidays. Still, it was more of a glitch than an outright failure and it
was good enough that I felt safe in including it in care packages I was mailing
out. Even if they weren’t very pretty.
Cookie Crust
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chocolate graham cracker crumbd
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
1 3/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 12-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8" baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- Crust: In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla and egg and mix until combined.
- Add flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt; ,mix until fully combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Press graham cracker dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Bake for 5 minutes.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle with the mini chocolate chips (reserving a small amount), coconut and sliced almonds. Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk over the top and sprinkle with reserved mini chocolate chips.
- Return to oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until set. Loosely tent the pan with foil halfway through baking time to prevent the coconut and almonds from browning and rotate the pan in the oven.
- Cool for 30 minutes at room temperature then place in refrigerator to cool completely. Cut into 16 squares when completely cool.
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