7 Layer Bars Recipe

By Nicole Hunn | Published: July 22, 2024 | Posted In: Bars, Desserts

5 from 4 votes

Prep Time : 15

Cook Time : 30

These chewy 7 layer bars have a buttery graham cracker crust, chocolate, nuts, coconut, topped with rich sweetened condensed milk.

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These chewy, decadent 7 Layer Bars are an endlessly customizable layered dessert with chocolate chips, coconut, chopped nuts and rich sweetened condensed milk, all in a simple graham cracker crust.

7 layer bars on dark gray serving plate in stack

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Why you'll love this 7 layer bars recipe

These are the easiest bars ever, and they are always a major hit everywhere you take them. They are relatively high on the allergen-unfriendly scale (dairy! nuts! coconut!), but I've got all kind of ideas for how to substitute different ingredients.

They're satisfyingly chewy, sweet, and have so many different textures all in one decadent dessert bar. You can follow the recipe to the letter, using all the same 7 elements that I do, or stick with the basic concept and make them your own.

Since there are no eggs to act as a binder, they seem like they won't hold together well. But the buttery graham cracker crust, when baked fully, is remarkably stable, and the sweetened condensed milk holds everything together.

They do hold together best when they're stored in the refrigerator, and I think they even taste best that way, too. They are also called 7 layer magic bars for a reason!

Key ingredients in this recipe

The 3 basic elements of 7 Layer Bars

There are 3 elements to these bars that make these bars what they are. How you choose to provide those elements is really up to you, though.

To make 7 Layer Bars, also known as Seven Layer Magic Bars, you must have:

1. A crunchy cookie crust. You can use any sort of crushed up crunchy cookie you like—store-bought, homemade, less sweet, more sweet, chocolate, or vanilla. The sky's the limit. And you have to mix the cookies with some sort of butter or butter substitute.

2. Pieces. The majority of the 7 layers are made up with pieces of chips, nuts, and coconut. If you don't like one sort of piece, substitute it with another. Love butterscotch? Use butterscotch chips. Hate coconut? Replace it with more chocolate chips. You get the idea.

3. Sweetened condensed milk. Yes, it has a ton of sugar, but it holds the bars together, makes them creamy and gives them depth of flavor. You could also probably use dulce de leche instead, and make an even more decadent bar.

You can see pictured above a plastic squeeze bottle of sweetened condensed milk, which makes it so much easier and neater to evenly distribute the product evenly over the top of the other layers of these magic cookie bars.

How to make 7 layer bars

Make the graham cracker crust

The crust is a simple one, made with crushed graham crackers and melted butter. Mix them together, and then press into a lined baking pan.

light brown graham cracker and butter mixture in metal bowl with mixing spoon, and then mixture pressed into square metal baking pan

Layer on all the chips, nuts, and coconut

Place each of the 4 pieces layers right on top of the graham cracker crust in order: first semi-sweet chocolate chips, then white chocolate chips, chopped nuts, and finally coconut chips.
You can see my coconut chips are toasted in the oven first a bit, but that's really optional.

7 layer bar crust in pan with semi sweet chocolate chips on top

7 layer bars with white chocolate chips added

Add sweetened condensed milk & more chips

Using one of those squeeze bottles of sweetened condensed milk makes it so much easier to pour that ingredient on top, but you can also make it work with a can.
Just pour slowly first one way, then the other and back again until you've covered it all. Then add a few more pieces on top!

sweetened condensed milk on 7 layer bars with final chips on top

Bake the 7 layer bars & enjoy.

Place the baking pan in the center of a 350°F oven and bake until the top of the mixture is bubbling and the edges are beginning brown.
They'll also pull away from the pan a bit.
Let cool to room temperature, chill for a bit, and then slice with a sharp knife into bars and enjoy!

Overhead image of baked 7 layer bars still in pan

7 Layer Bars ingredients and substitution suggestions

As always, please understand that I haven't tried any of these substitutions unless I specifically state otherwise. There are just my best-educated guesses about what would work in this recipe so that readers with other dietary restrictions can bake along.

If you need to make gluten free 7 layer bars, be sure to use gluten free graham cracker crumbs and carefully select your other ingredients to be sure that they're free of wheat or gluten as a contaminant:

Dairy free 7 layer bars

This will take a bunch of substitutions, but they're pretty straightforward. Use a dairy-free crunchy cookie crumb (you can use my gluten free graham crackers and replace the butter with shortening, and add a touch of milk to bring the cookie dough together), and Earth Balance buttery sticks or Miyoko's Kitchen brand vegan butter in place of the butter.

Then you can either use a store-bought canned sweetened condensed coconut milk (I've bought it before and it's quite good!), or my homemade sweetened condensed milk, the dairy-free version. Make sure your chocolate chips are dairy-free, and if you can't find dairy-free white chocolate chips, just use any other dairy-free chip you like in its place.

Nut free 7 layer bars

In place of almonds, you can use more chocolate chips—or a different raw chopped nut if you can tolerate some nuts but not others. We just need pieces here that you can chew easily and hold their shape.

Coconut free 7 layer bars

Use other nuts in place of coconut chips!

This recipe for 7 Layer Bars is endlessly customizable, made easily with or without coconut, gluten free graham cracker crumbs, and even easily made dairy free!

Frequently asked questions

Why are they called 7 layer bars?

They're called 7 layer bars because they technically have 7 layers: graham cracker crumbs, butter, 2 types of chips, coconut, nuts, and sweetened condensed milk. In reality, those are really more like 7 ingredients, but 7 layer bars sounds better than 7 ingredient bars!

Are 7 layer bars the same as hello dolly bars? What about magic squares?

They're actually all the same thing! I have always assumed that in some parts of the country, they are more likely to be known by one name than another. I think it's similar to how, in Minnesota what they call a hot dish, I might just call a casserole.

I don't like any kind of nuts. Can I still make these magic squares?

You sure can! Since 4 of the 7 ingredients are just individual pieces that don't really change shape, but come together because they are bound together with sweetened condensed milk, you can really replace any of them you like. So if you don't like nuts at all, try adding more coconut, or a different sort of chocolate or flavored chip. Just use a similar amount, by weight, and it should be delicious.

Do I have to toast the coconut chips ahead of time?

No! Toasting the coconut chips alone in a warm oven for a few minutes brings out the natural flavor and aroma of the coconut, but you can skip that step if you don't want to bother. The coconut chips will still brown a bit in the oven when they're baked as part of the assembled bars.

Can I use shredded coconut instead of coconut chips?

Yes! Shredded coconut doesn't really taste like coconut to me, and I like coconut, so I prefer to use unsweetened coconut chips, sometimes referred to as flakes. But you can use an equal amount, by weight, of unsweetened shredded coconut if that's what you like best.

How do I store any leftover bars?

I like these bars best when they're kept in the refrigerator, and they also hold together best that way. I first cut the whole into 9 equal square bars, but when I'm storing leftovers, I put them in a tightly sealed container and stash them in the refrigerator. The sugar acts as a preservative, and they'll stay fresh for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. You can freeze them in a tightly sealed freezer-safe container for up to 3 months, but be sure to defrost in the refrigerator before serving.

Are these gluten free 7 layer bars?

Seven layer bars are gluten free if they're made with gluten free graham cracker crumbs. I have a recipe for gluten free graham crackers that you can make into crumbs, and you can also buy gluten free graham crackers to make into crumbs. Be sure that your nuts and chips are also safely gluten free, too, if that's necessary as they sometimes contain gluten ingredients and nuts often have a “may contain wheat” statement. I buy many of my gluten free nuts from nuts.com.

One 7 layer bar on small white round plate on blue cloth

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7 Layer Bars

These chewy 7 layer bars have a buttery graham cracker crust, chocolate, nuts, coconut, topped with rich sweetened condensed milk.

Course: Bars

Cuisine: American, gluten free

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 30

Chilling time: 30

Yield: 9 bars

Author: Nicole Hunn

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.