Not long ago, after I finished making and testing these 7-Layer S’mores Bars, I declared, with far too much ferocity: THIS YEAR SHALL BE THE YEAR OF THE 7-LAYER BAR! My husband, who is quite used to listening to me cry out loudly about desserts, nodded and laughed and told me that that sounds pretty good, as he usually does. You see, I make declarations of that nature kind of often. When I got my new rotating cake stand last January I announced vehemently, IT’S THE YEAR OF THE CAKES! And a while before that, when I got my new bundt pan off of Amazon, I went on and on asking him, how come no one makes bundts anymore? and boldy broadcasted my new mission, to BRING BACK THE BUNDT! As you can see, I tend to get really excited about certain kinds of dessert trends for a while, before abandoning my previous claims and moving onto something else entirely. So, while it’s been over two months since I last made 7-Layer Bars, I’m not going to give up hope that this year will be a year of adventuring with this wonderful layered dessert.
If you aren’t familiar with 7-Layer Bars, they typically start out with a graham cracker crust. From there, you add the layers, which I’ve come to discover, can be any combination of pretty much anything. Traditional 7-Layer Bars (or Magic Bars, as they’re sometimes referred to), usually include chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coconut flakes and walnuts. To hold it all together, an entire can of sweetened condensed milk gets poured right on top. Bake until bubbly. Voilà.
As you can probably tell, the classic 7-Layer Bar is pretty fantastic. However, as I mentioned, the layering possibilities are pretty much endless, and the more peanut butter I can fit into one of these things, the closer I will get to reaching complete dessert euphoria. The layers in this version include: graham cracker crust, chocolate chips, Reese’s peanut butter chips, shredded coconut, sweetened condensed milk, Reese’s Cups, and a peanut butter drizzle. I tried them the other night, right out of the oven. Delicious. But my favorite way to have a 7-Layer Bar is out of the fridge, so I’ll require one more taste test of the chilled bar before I need to get them away from myself, and fast. These bars are dangerous, peanut buttery hodge-podge. I don’t know what’s next in the world of 7-Layer Bars, but I’m not sure how anything can get much better than this.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter melted
- 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup Reese's peanut butter chips
- 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut flakes
- 1 cup Reese's peanut butter cups chopped
- 1 14- ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter melted
Instructions
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray; set aside.
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Melt the butter in a medium bowl. Add the graham crackers and mix with the butter.
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Pour the mixture into the pan, pressing the graham crackers down so the crumbs are packed down.
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Evenly sprinkle with most of the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, coconut, and peanut butter cups. I set aside some of these toppings for the end, as well. Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk over the top.
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Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and peanut butter cups on top.
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Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until lightly golden brown around edges and the center is mostly set.
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Drizzle the melted peanut butter evenly over the top of the bars.
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Place pan on a wire rack and allow bars to cool in pan for at least 2 hours, or overnight, before slicing and serving. The bars firm up as they cool.