31 Days of Cookies . Day 4. Magic Cookie Bars

Bar cookies are fun to make because you just spread stuff in a pan and bake. No rolling, flattening, scooping. Just cut them in squares after they've cooled. Plus you can bake them all at once rather than in batches.

Today I made Magic Cookie Bars. Several years ago I made these All. The. Time. But it's been awhile and I didn't realize how sketchy my recipe was. (Like... a 3 oz can of coconut? I didn't know coconut ever came in a can.) So I did a little guessing with this one, but it came out fine, so I'll tell you just what I did.

Ingredients:
1 cube butter
1 1/2 C graham cracker crumbs
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT evaporated milk. They come in the same size can and are right next to each other on the grocery store shelf)
1 C chopped nuts
1/2 C shredded coconut
1/2 of a 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips

Melt the butter in a 9x13" pan (or similar)

Roll the graham crackers between the folds of a sheet of waxed paper with a rolling pin. Recognize this cute rolling pin? I'm making these at Kate's while babysitting napping Maggie (and the Blue Angels are practicing for Fleet Week overhead. Thundering loudness! Can't believe she's still asleep!)

Put the crumbs in the butter, stir and press down to make a crust.

Then mix the nuts, chocolate chips, and coconut in a bowl and spread over the crust.
Bake at 350° for a half hour or so. (Again, the sketchy recipe. Gave no baking time, but a half hour seemed about right. I'm really so accurate when I bake... or not.)

We were kind of anxious, so we cut them while they were still a bit hot. Messy, but delicious!