The classic magic cookie bar goes blond with the addition of crushed pretzels, white and butterscotch baking chips, toffee pieces and macadamias. You won’t even miss the chocolate!
Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. There is no chocolate in these 7-Layer Cookie Bars because these are Blondie 7-Layer Cookie Bars. In my life, anything chocolate has become the spawn of Satan because of my freakish chocolate allergy. It started a few years ago which means that for decades I could eat chocolate whenever I wanted. And now I can’t.
It probably has something to do with karma and incinerating bugs with a magnifying glass when I was little. Or maybe for having some mean thoughts about that girl in 8th grade who didn’t have any zits. Or it could be from that one time when…never mind, you don’t need to know about that one time. It is totally incongruous to a harmonious life.
As with any other person who has a food allergy, I look for ways to satisfy certain food ‘needs’ with alternatives. Granted, my allergy to chocolate is more of an inconvenience than it is a dramatic health issue, but I still have to be conscientious about avoiding anything with cocoa.
Recently I made an experimental pan of Magic 7-Layer Cookie Bars, using a variety of different candies and chips–mostly chocolate in nature. It was for the good of the blog, you see. I thought that maybe my readers would appreciate something chocolate for a change. I’ve since decided that you’ll survive without a chocolate post. That single pan of chocolate joy sent me spiraling down into hours of self-pity. Sigh.
Despite the fact that I didn’t get to taste those indulgent chocolatey bars, my grandsons LOVED them. Surprisingly they wolfed down the cookie bars like there was no tomorrow. I say ‘surprisingly’ because the boys are strangely picky about their sweets and don’t usually eat anything that regular kids eat. They go cuckoo over creme brulee, but will balk at the suggestion of a chocolate chip cookie. (I blame their mother, the chef, for having spoiled them on perfect macarons, decadent cheesecake creations and delicate pastries.)
Not being able to get those cookie bars off of my mind, I decided to reinvent them. I exchanged all of the traditional ooey gooey chocolate wonderfulness with ooey gooey blondie ingredients that I can eat (buuuuut probably shouldn’t). Besides, three of my last four food posts have been about salads, so it is time to get my bad-girl-in-the-kitchen groove on. Note to self: Get the cookie bars out of the house!
One of the great things about this recipe is its ingredient flexibility. Mix and match 2 cups of your favorite ooey gooey type of ingredients, add nuts of choice, and the broken pretzels along with the remaining traditional ingredients. It’s really easy. People will say, “Look at you! You’re a genius!”
Yes, there really are 7 layers in these Blondie 7-Layer Cookie Bars! Let’s count them off:
- Graham cracker crust
- Broken pretzels
- Mixture of butterscotch and white baking chips
- Toffee bits
- Shredded coconut
- Macadamia nuts
- Sweetened Condensed Milk
Blondie 7-Layer Magic Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1 cup coarsely crushed pretzels
- 1 cup white baking chips
- 1 cup butterscotch baking chips
- 1 cup toffee pieces, such as Heath Bits o' Brickle
- 1 cup coarsely chopped macademia nuts
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- 1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Spray a 9- x 13-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray; set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs and the melted butter until well blended. Press mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking pan.
- Scatter the crushed pretzels over the graham cracker layer.
- In the order listed, sprinkle the remaining ingredients (except for the sweetened condensed milk) over the pretzels, ending with the shredded coconut. Pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the coconut.
- Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in pan, about 2 hours, then cut into 24 equal-sized bars. Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Bars will keep longer than 4 days, but may not taste quite as fresh.
Notes
Every layer is more delicious than the one before! Might have to make these for a picnic this weekend. Mmm.
YUM! What a great looking combo. Sweet, crunchy and and a little salty? Gotta love that.
Thanks Terri! 🙂
These look great, but what if you have a allergy to coconut and nuts? Would it still work if you skipped those two layers? 5 layer bars?
Thanks, Jan. 5 layer bars would work just fine, but I think that a couple of minor changes are needed since the coconut and nuts need to be left out. Add an extra cup of baking chips, any combo. In place of the nuts, add an extra cup of coarsely broken pretzels on top. These are just some suggestions to help make up for the volume lost with leaving out the coconut and nuts. I’ve seen lots of recipes for these types of bars with quite a few different combinations of ingredients including miniature marshmallow, caramel bits, M&M’s, etc. Here is a link at Crazy for Crust for a collection of 31 different layered magic cookie bars. I think that you could find some great alternatives among those recipes. Drop back by and let me know your bars turn out and how you adapted them. Happy baking. ~Terri
As much as I love chocolate… I would gobble these up too. 🙂 I made magic bars once and they disappeared when I put them out… I need to make them again…maybe your blondie version too. 🙂
Can I use peanut butter . Don’t want to use condensed milk.
While I am certain that peanut butter would taste great in this style of recipe, peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk would not yield similar results. The sugars in the sweetened condensed milk work as a binder when baked, whereas peanut butter is a fat and would melt, not accomplishing the needed element of a binder.