It’s not too late!!!

This recipe has long been one of my favorites for the holidays. It is so quick and easy and extremely tasty. The only problem was it used a cup of this and that…ingredients that you wouldn’t use for anything else the rest of the year. I’ve made several modifications over the years so I can use a whole bag of the ingredient and make the taste exactly what I like. I think you might like them too (I’ve heard several names for different variations of this cookie, the most common being “Magic Cookie Bars”). Enjoy!

Notes: This recipe makes two pans of cookie bars.  It was designed to use all of the ingredients contained in standard sized bags/boxes you buy in the grocery store…no more half bags of coconut sitting around for months!  All bags and boxes are split evenly between the two pans of cookies.  I use fat free sweetened condensed milk (with all the other sweets you really can’t tell).  A great variation is to use 6 ounces peanut butter chips and 6 ounces of semisweet….it’s my favorite! I also like to make sure I have sweetened condensed milk touching all the edges. The cookies are a little harder to remove but the edges are chewy, crisp goodness!

Yield: 36-48 bars

Diva Delights

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray each of the 9 x 13 inch pans with non-stick spray. Divide the butter, graham crumbs, walnuts, chips and coconut into equal portions.   Into the bottom of each 9×13 pan pour 1/2 cup (one stick) of melted margarine.  Half of each of the remaining ingredients go into each pan.

Working in layers, sprinkle graham cracker crumbs evenly over melted margarine, chopped nuts over the crumbs, chocolate chips over the nuts.  Sprinkle coconut and then add the milk last.  Bake 30 minutes or until lightly browned on top.  Cool 15 minutes before cutting into bars.