real life test kitchen: sprinkle cookie bars
This past Halloween, like every year, my daughters picked out all the Almond Joys and Mounds from their candy score and gladly handed them over to me. So when my mother-in-law invited them to help her make cookies from an old, kid-friendly recipe — one that calls for both coconut and nuts — I figured they’d have fun but turn up their little noses at first taste. I couldn’t have been more wrong! We’ve already made these at home, and my youngest is begging for more. Seems like an old favorite is destined to become our new favorite. — Sarah L.
Sprinkle Cookie Bars
1 stick margarine (this was written “Oleo” in my mother-in-law’s recipe; told you it was old)
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
13 1/2 oz. coconut flakes
6 oz. chocolate chips
6 oz. butterscotch chips
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 can sweetened condensed milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt margarine in 9″x13″ pan. (I just put the margarine and pan in the oven while it preheats to melt it.) Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs over the melted margazine, followed by remaining ingredients, sprinkled in layers. Drizzle sweetened condensed milk over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool, then cut into 1.5†squares. (It’s like six layers of sugar on top of margarine. Trust me, a small square is plenty. And if not, there’s always seconds.) Store in tightly covered container.
A good friend of mine routinely makes these for get-togethers and I swear she sprinkles a little bit of crack over each one as a finishing touch. They’re that good!
Old people love cooking with margarine, condensed milk and gelatin. I’ve been trying to make some of my grandmothers old recipes and so many have gelatin in them. No thanks!
I love these bars! I started making them from a recipe in a magazine 20 years ago, and they were called Hello Dolly Bars.
Ah, yes, seven layer bars. I love these, although we always skip the butterscotch chips, just use two layers of chocolate. Yum! My family makes these at Christmas, along with sugar cookies, Toll House, and cheesecake dreams.
No margarine though, we always use butter. The recipes that get me are the ones that say “shortening,” in case you want to use Crisco instead of butter or margarine in your cookies. My favorite gingerbread recipe calls for shortening, but I use butter. It’s from my beloved 1963 Betty Crocker New Picture Cookbook. Great cookbook, goes for quite a bit on eBay when it’s in good condition. The funny thing is that gingerbread recipe is described in the cookbook as being an old one from the 19th century, when I’m sure it didn’t call for shortening in the original version.
i am going into a diabetic coma just reading this recipe.
and i swear, this is the first-ever recipe taught to me in 8th grade home ec class. as if it were “real cooking”