These heaven bars are indeed heavenly, with a biscuit crumb crust, chocolate and butterscotch chips, chopped nuts, coconut and sweetened condensed milk. Ridiculously easy and they bake up into something wonderful!
What are heaven bars?
These heaven bars are seven layers of goodness. Also known as magic bars, or seven layer bars, one bite and you’ll understand where the name comes from!
They are bars with a biscuit crust topped with chocolate chips of your choice (I use semi-sweet and butterscotch), nuts, sweetened shredded coconut and drizzled with condensed milk. Once you bake these bars the condensed milk bubbles and caramelizes in the oven and adds an ooey gooey layer of goodness.
Why should you make these bars?
They are ridiculously easy. There is no hard part! All you do is layer a bunch of ingredients in a pan and bake them. It’ll take about 5 minutes of effort.
Heaven bars are DELICIOUS. Absolutely addictive. The combination of textures, from the crumb crust, to the melty chocolate chips, to the nuts that toast in the oven and the gooey condensed milk. So, so good.
They are extremely adaptable. Throw in your favorite nuts, or any chocolate chips or chopped chocolate you have on hand. You can leave out the coconut if you prefer (But I highly recommend trying with, toasting the coconut in the oven gives such great flavor).
What ingredients do you need to make heaven bars?
The crumb crust:
Biscuits Crumbs: For the crumb crust, you need either digestive biscuit or graham cracker crumbs. I usually use digestive biscuit because that’s more easily found in the Middle East. The bars will be fantastic with either.
Melted Butter: Melted unsalted butter to mix with the crumbs.
The chocolate chips:
I used semi-sweet and butterscotch chips. The butterscotch chips have a unique, caramel like flavor. I love them! You can use peanut butter chips, or white chocolate chips if you like. You can even add more regular semi-sweet chips if you like.
The nuts:
I like using walnuts, the toasted flavor they get in the oven is delicious. You can also use pecans, one of my favorite nuts.
One trademark of these seven layer bars is the sweetened shredded coconut on top. The coconut toasts up in the oven and turns golden brown and crispy. It’s a great addition, but if you absolutely don’t like coconut, you can leave it out.
The sweetened condensed milk:
I get a 14 oz can of condensed milk, and drizzle about 2/3 of the can onto the top. I make sure I have a good amount of drizzle but usually don’t use up the whole can. Most recipes call for the whole can, so feel free to do that if you like! The reason I use a little less is just to control the sweetness of the bars since the butterscotch chips and sweetened coconut already add a lot.
How do I make the bars?
It’s a very easy process.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and prepare a 9×13 inch pan by lightly greasing a pan and lining with parchment paper.
- Prepare the biscuit crumbs. This is easiest to do by blitzing the biscuit or graham crackers in a food processor until fine crumbs form, or by placing them in a large ziploc bag and bashing them with a rolling pin, what I usually do.
- Mix the biscuit crumbs with melted butter, until evenly coated and moistened.
- Press the biscuit mixture into the base of the prepared pan. This can sometimes get a little difficult because the crumbs tend to stick to your hand, so one trick I have is to spray the base of a measuring cup with a little non stick spray then use that to pack the crumbs into the pan.
- Layer with the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, chopped nuts, sweetened coconut.
- Finally, drizzle the condensed milk evenly on top and bake for 25 minutes or until edges have turned golden brown and the condensed milk has also turned light golden brown and is bubbling.
- Cool completely before removing from pan and cutting into squares.
FAQs and tips for heaven bars success:
Can I halve the recipe?
Absolutely! You can halve the amount of ingredients and make this in an 8×8 inch square pan. Bake time should be the same.
Can I leave out the nuts?
Yes. You can also substitute the walnuts for pecans, and the sweetened shredded coconut with dry dessicated coconut.
Can I freeze leftover bars?
Yes, bars freeze very well for up to 3 months.
Storing leftover bars:
Leftover bars will last up to 4 days tightly covered at room temperature, up to one week tightly covered in the fridge, and up to three months in the freezer.
If you liked this recipe, you might like:
Heaven Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups graham cracker or digestive biscuit crumbs 200g
- 1/2 cup butter, melted 113g, 1 stick
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 150g
- 1 cup butterscotch chips 150g
- 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans 100g
- 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut 120g
- 1/2-a whole can sweetened condensed milk 14 oz can (400g)* see notes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F ((180C.) Prepare a 9×13 inch pan by lightly greasing with butter then lining with parchment paper.
- In a medium sized bowl, add the biscuit crumbs and melted butter. Using a fork, stir to combine until all the crumbs are evenly moistened.
- Press the crumbs into the lined pan. Try to cover the base evenly. You may find it easier to lightly grease the base of a measuring cup with nonstick spray and use that to spread the crumbs.
- Layer by evenly scattering the chocolate chips on top, then the butterscotch chips, the chopped nuts, and then the sweetened shredded coconut. Evenly drizzle the condensed milk on top.
- Bake in the middle rack of the oven for 25 minutes or until edges are golden brown and condensed milk is bubbling.
- Let cool completely before lifting the parchment paper out of the pan and cutting into even sized squares. I did 20 squares, but you can make them even smaller, these are rich and decadent!
Notes
Nutrition
Magic Bars by everylittlecrumb on Jumprope.
Did you make this? Tag @everylittlecrumb or hashtag #everylittlecrumb and I’ll share your images!
Leave a Reply