7 Layer Bars

Whenever we connect with friends and family back in the states, we commonly receive questions such as:

“What is it like to live abroad?”

“Do you miss home?”

“How is the language learning going?”

“What are some of the biggest cultural differences that you find between Bulgaria and the States?”

 

While we could talk for hours about any of these questions, our go to short answers tend to be:

“Living abroad is definitely both a challenging and rewarding learning experience”

“Yes, we certainly have moments where we miss aspects of home, but we also feel at home in many ways here in Bulgaria”

“We are feeling more and more confident in our ability to speak Bulgarian with those around us but still have a long way to go. Some conversations are definitely better than others and we still make lots of mistakes that we can laugh about.”

“Cultural differences…well we may have to save that for a later post as I don’t think we can answer that quite as well in just a few sentences.”

 

All things considered, living abroad has been a wonderful journey so far and we have loved everything we are learning during our time here.

Now you may be wondering….how does any of this relate to 7 Layer Bars??

Well, truth be told, 7 Layer Bars (also known as Magic Bars) have always been one of my FAVORITE DESSERTS!!! And sometimes when you feel a bit homesick, making a dessert from your childhood makes all the difference. Especially when you can share it with new friends to help you feel not so far away from home after all 🙂 .

We did not make 7 Layer Bars often when I was growing up but when we did, my favorite part was eating all the crumbs and toppings that may or may not have just “happened” to fall off somewhere in the baking, cutting and or serving process. I have always loved the mix of flavors between the chocolate, nuts and coconut in these bars. One of my favorite parts is also the the taste of the crispy coconut flakes on the top…Yum 😋!!

From a baking perspective this is a very forgiving and versatile recipe so in a pinch you can easily throw them together with whatever combination of chocolate and nuts that you have on hand. You can also adjust the ratios of the toppings slightly if you prefer a more chocolatey or nutty flavored bar. While the traditional recipe calls for sweetened coconut flakes, I have found that making them with unsweetened coconut works just as well since the chocolate and milk add plenty of sweetness on their own. I have even seen recipes making variations of these bars with caramel sauce, peanut butter sauce, on top of brownies….but my favorite version continues to be the traditional recipe that I remember from my childhood.

Here in Bulgaria we have loved any opportunity to explore cultural differences between America and Bulgaria (which usually involves exchanging recipes as well 🙂 ). The other night I decided that this would be a fun dessert to share with some of our friends but the only problem was the fact that I had not yet found sweetened condensed milk here in the stores 😦 . Thankfully the internet came to my recuse and I learned that you can make your own version at home (something I’m learning with several recipes when ingredients are not available here) which I promptly proceeded to do. Hooray for cooking lessons from living abroad!!

The best news is that the bars came out Beautifully and they were a huge Success!!

I hope you enjoy these bars as much as we do and of course you do not have to make your own sweetened condensed milk if you can find it at the store (Although, it never hurts to have the recipe on hand in case of an emergency 😉 ). Happy Baking!!

7 Layer Bars

Ingredients:

½ cup (113 grams) butter

1 ½ cups (128 grams) finely crushed graham cracker crumbs¹

1 cup (125 grams) chopped pecans (or other nuts of choice such as walnuts or peanuts)

1 ½ cups (262 grams) chocolate chips²

1 1/3 cup (130 grams) shredded coconut³

1 can (14oz or 300 ml) sweetened condensed milk*

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C)

2. Line a 9 x 13 inch pan with parchment paper

3. Melt the butter either on the stove or in a microwave safe bowl

4. Combine the melted butter and graham cracker crumbs in the 9 x 13 pan. Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan to create an even layered crust over the entire pan.

5. Sprinkle the pecans, chocolate and shredded coconut evenly over the crust in the pan

6. Pour the sweetend condensed milk evenly over the toppings in the pan

7. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25min until the edges are golden brown

8. Remove from the oven and let the pan cool completely before cutting into bars. Serve and enjoy!

Notes:

¹I have also used vanilla flavored cookies to make this recipe here in Bulgaria since graham crackers are not available. Any sort of hard vanilla flavored cookie or digestive biscuit will work if you do not have graham crackers available.

²Typically I use a mix of milk and white chocolate. You can easily use dark chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter chips, etc. depending on your preferences

³I have used both sweetend and unsweetend coconut for this recipe and you can use either depending on your desired level of sweetness

*If you do not have sweetend condensed milk recipe on hand you can make your own. I used this recipe to make my own sweetened condensed milk here in Bulgaria: https://addapinch.com/homemade-sweetened-condensed-milk-recipe/