Classic Seven Layer Bars have 7 layers of sweet, crunchy, and chewy flavors! Studded with walnuts, coconut, and all the chips, these are always a favorite!
You may know them as Magic Bars, Dream Bars, or Seven Layer Bars. However you name them, the results are the same:
7 layers of tasty flavors that everyone wants, craves, and devours.
How to Make Seven Layer Bars
Here’s a snapshot of the Layer Situation:
- Graham cracker crust
- Walnuts
- Chocolate chips
- White chocolate chips
- Butterscotch chips
- Shredded coconut
- Sweetened condensed milk
But first, start by making a foil sling.
How to line a pan with aluminum foil
For ease of removal and cleanup in general, start this recipe by lining your pan with foil. You basically want two overlapping pieces of aluminum foil that hang over the edges of the pan, forming a sling.
When the bars are done and cooled, you can lift the foil up by the edges and easily remove the bars.
With your aluminum foil lining in place, everything else is easy!
Make a simplified version of a graham cracker crust. Then, layer the toppings in the order above, and pour the sweetened condensed milk over the top to bind everything together. Bake for an hour and cool completely.
Seven Layer Bars
Ingredients
- 9 whole graham crackers
- 8 tablespoons butter melted and cooled (1 stick)
- 1 cup walnuts finely chopped
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
- ½ cup butterscotch chips
- 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut toasted
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 by 13-inch cake pan with foil and coat with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a food processor or in a plastic bag with a rolling pin, finely crush graham crackers. Toss with butter, then press into prepared pan in an even layer.
- Layer the walnuts, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and coconuts on top of the graham cracker crumbs in that order. Drizzle condensed milk evenly over the top.
- Bake until golden brown and fragrant, about 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan completely on a wire rack, about 2 hours. Lift bars out of the pan using foil sling and cut into squares.
Notes
- Graham crackers: Honey-flavored or cinnamon graham cracker crumbles both taste incredible as the crust for these Seven Layer Bars. If graham crackers aren’t available in your corner of the globe, swap in 1 ½ cups crushed digestive biscuits (9 sheets of graham crackers yields about 1 ½ cups of crumbs).
- Chips: The classic Seven Layer Bar includes semi-sweet, white chocolate, and butterscotch chips. Dark chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or even chopped bar chocolate would also work wonderfully here. Feel free to mix-and-match as desired; and keep in mind no one will be mad if these end up being Eight or Nine Layer Bars!
- Flaked coconut: I prefer the sweetened kind here but unsweetened is perfectly acceptable too. For crunchier texture and nuttier flavor, toast the coconut.
- Yield: This Seven Layer Bars makes 18 generous bar cookies. This chocolate dessert is rich enough that a little goes a long way, so if you're sharing this as part of a potluck menu that includes other party desserts, you could definitely get 24 bars out of each 9- by 13-inch pan.
- Storage: Wrap the cooked and cooled bars tightly in plastic wrap and store at room temperature for 3 days.
- Freezer: The cooled bars can be wrapped in a double-layer of freezer-safe plastic and frozen for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature.
Nutrition
Swoon. These are what I would like to call… perfection. Definitely happening for the next potluck.
Ahhh, these look delicious! I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off!
7 layer bars are one of the best foods on earth. And this is a particularly beautiful version of them! NOM.