Magic Cookie Bars

 This recipe comes to me via Rebecca Celis.  This, along with the recipes for Buckeyes and Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies, were, I thought, classic family recipes of the Rebecca’s family that had somehow been created by said family.  However, while transcribing the recipe for Magic Cookie Bars from the photocopy of a page from a cookbook I had helped to compile for her, I noticed a number of unique things about this recipe.  Foremost was the recipe’s insistence that I use Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk.  Odd, I thought, why the specificity in this recipe?  Such attention to this kind of detail is lacking in most (if not all) of the other family recipes I had encountered.  The second clue was the addition of measurements by weight for some of the ingredients.  Odd again, I thought, since Rebecca’s family are not bakers who use weight as way to measure ingredients. 

So my curiosity was piqued enough to where I needed to see where this recipe came from.  Unsurprisingly, the recipe comes straight from Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk.  Here’s the link to the company recipe.  And alas, according to the Eagle company, it is The Eagle Brand best loved classic.  Well, I can see why.  These bars are rich, sweet, chewy, and delicious.  Here’s the recipe:

Magic Cookie Bars 

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups finely crushed graham crackers

14 ounces sweetened condensed milk

6 ounces (about 3/4 cup) semi-sweet morsels

3 1/2 ounces (about 1 cup) flaked coconut

1 cup nuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a 13 x 9 pan, melt butter.  Sprinkle crumbs over butter.  Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumbs.  Top evenly with remaining ingredients.  Press down gently.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool thoroughly before cutting.  Store loosely covered at room temperature.