7 Layer Bars
These chewy 7 layer bars have a buttery graham cracker crust, chocolate, nuts, coconut, topped with rich sweetened condensed milk.
Yield: 9 bars
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (120 g) coconut flakes/chips plus some more for sprinkling
- 1 ½ cups (225 g) graham cracker crumbs gluten free if necessary (See Recipe Notes)
- 8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips plus a few more for sprinkling
- 4 ounces white chocolate chips plus a few more for sprinkling
- 1 ½ cups (120 g) raw pecan pieces (or a combination of semi-soft raw or baked nuts; I like a combination of cashews and pecans)
- 14 ounces (1 can or pouch) sweetened condensed milk or homemade sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 300°F.
- Grease and line an 8 x 8-inch square baking dish, and set it aside. I like to use nonstick aluminum foil to line the pan, since it stays in place and doesn't stick to the bars after they cool. You can use parchment paper, or regular aluminum foil and spray it with nonstick cooking spray.
Toast the coconut chips
- Place the coconut chips on an unlined quarter sheet pan or jelly roll pan. Once the oven has reached temperature, place that pan in the oven and bake for about 5 minutes or until the coconut chips have begun to brown.
- For the most evenly toasted chips, stir them once after about 2 minutes of baking and return the pan to the oven.
- Remove the coconut chips from the oven and set them aside to allow them to cool briefly.
- Increase the oven temperature to 350°F.
Make the bars.
- In a medium-sized bowl, place the cookie crumbs and the melted butter, and mix to combine well.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish and press it firmly into the bottom.
- On top of the cookie crust in even layers, add the semi-sweet chocolate chips, the white chocolate chips, the coconut, and the nuts. Reserve a few of the chocolate and white chocolate chips and some of the coconut.
- Pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the top of the whole dish. Sprinkle the top evenly with the remaining more semi-sweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and/or coconut chips, if any.
- Place the baking dish in the center of the preheated oven, and bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top and sides of the dish are bubbling and the edges are beginning to brown.
- The edges may also begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. If you're not entirely sure if the dish is done, reduce the oven temperature to about 325°F and continue baking for another few minutes.
- Remove the baking dish from the oven, and allow the bars to cool for at least 15 minutes in the pan. If you try to remove it too soon, it won’t hold together.
- To make the bars easier to slice, chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Once cool, grab the overhanging baking pan liner and remove the bars from the pan.
- With a wet knife, slice the bars into 9 equal squares. You can always slice into smaller pieces, but the approximate nutritional information is based on 1 of 9 squares.
- Serve at room temperature or chilled from the refrigerator. Refrigerate any leftovers in a tightly sealed container for up to 2 weeks. Freeze for longer storage, but allow to defrost in the refrigerator or at room temperature before serving.
Notes
For the graham cracker crumbs.
You'll need about 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs. If you're crushing your own graham crackers, whether it's my gluten free graham cracker recipe, your own, or store bought crackers, the easiest way to get the amount right is to measure the graham crackers by weight first.
The right weight of graham crackers will result in the right weight of crumbs. It usually takes about 1/2 my recipe of graham crackers, or about 10 full-size individual rectangular crackers.
I crush them in a mini food processor (affiliate link), since it makes the most uniform crumbs without making any of the graham crackers into paste like a blender can sometimes do. And a mini food processor is easier to clean than a big one.
You can use any sort of food processor or blender, or just put them in a zip-top storage bag and pound them with a rolling pin until they resemble coarse crumbs.
Nutritional facts.
Nutrition information is an estimate only, per bar, from online calculators, provided as a courtesy, and should not be relied on under any circumstances.
Nutrition
Serving: 1bar | Calories: 497kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 41g | Saturated Fat: 21g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 112mg | Potassium: 280mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 331IU | Vitamin C: 0.5mg | Calcium: 62mg | Iron: 2mg
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