Bake 52 Week 5: 7 Layer Bars

Hi everyone!  Today I am hosting for Bake 52!  Before I get to the actual recipe, I want to give a little introduction about myself for my new Bake 52 friends.  My name is Jesse.  6 months ago I moved to Boston where my husband is attending Harvard Business School.  I've been thrown into a completely new lifestyle here in Boston.  I'm still trying to get used to the hussle and bussle of life.  I've been trying new things every day.  I even tried cooking a live lobster, though I don't recommend it. Here's the link if your're interested. I also have a one year old son named Woodson.  I am originally from South Dakota.  That is where I met Amanda (the Amanda who is in charge of Bake 52).  She was actually my youth leader at church like 9 or 10 years ago.  I thought she was super cool (and still do).  Now i'm all grown up (well sorta, i'm 25) and I'm happy to say that we kept in touch and we're still friends.  She even drove like 3 hours to come to my wedding reception!  Little did I know that we would have so much in common today!  Anyways, I love to cook and hate to clean.  My kitchen is messy about 60 % of the time.  But i'm a germaphobe, so it's not bacteria messy.  Just regular messy, cluttered.  I also love to play games.

Ok, it's recipe time.  The actual recipe is near the end of this post.

I decided to choose the 7 Layer Bars and here's why.  My Mom makes the best 7 layer bars EVER.  However, she always makes it up in her head so it's not written down anywhere.  I have tried making them twice, and failed both times.  It was time for me to find a 7 layer recipe of my own.  I've gotta say, this recipe was not a fail, and not a disappointment!  It's pretty similar to hers, except that there are no rice krispies or heath bits in my Moms recipe.  I thought both were great additions.  My Mom makes her bars with butterscotch chips.  I knew that I would miss those, so I went ahead and added them to this recipe.  It's totally worth it.  They are so yummy in these bars and i'm not even a butterscotch fan.  Just trust me.

I was a little worried after reading Rachel Howard's (it's TroyandRachelHoward on Facebook) post on the Bake 52 FB page last week.  She said that they were too gooey.  I decided to stick to the recipe and put in the normal amount.  I'm glad I did.  They were perfect for me.  I'm not really sure what she was talking about, because they were the same consistency as our Mom's recipe.  Oh yeah, did I mention that Rachel is my sister?!?  So I can say that cuz she's my sis.  :) She has a really cute blog called familyeverafter.blogspot.com.  Check it out!

So all in all, I was really pleased with the outcome of this dessert.  These bars are really decadent, but so good.  I made them for my husband's birthday on Monday.  He said that they were better than any birthday cake he's ever had!

And now, for the recipe!  I have two versions of the recipe.  First is the whole recipe written out with no pictures.  Underneath that is the  recipe directions with my pictures incorporated.  Also, any notes that come from me are NOT italicized, and are in bold.  You'll notice in the pictures that I halved the recipe.  Hope you like it!

7 Layer Bars

Makes 24 bars

Ingredients

1 cup Chocolate covered toffee bits (heath brand)

12 whole graham crackers, broken into 1-inch pieces

8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

8 ounces milk chocolate, chopped fine  I used milk chocolate chips

1 cup Rice Krispies

1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped coarse

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup butterscotch chips (I did a little less pecans and semisweet chocolate chips because I added butterscotch chips)

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted

2 14 oz cans sweetened condensed milk 

I used the entire amount of sweetened condensed milk, minus a few tablespoons because I did not scrape the can.

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions

1.  Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13 by 9 inch baking pan with a foil sling and grease the foil.

2.  Process the toffee bits to a fine powder in a food processor, about 10 seconds.  Add the graham cracker pieces and continue to process the mixture to fine crumbs, about 30 seconds.  Drizzle the melted butter over the crumbs and pulse to incorporate.  Sprinkle the crumbs into the prepared pan and press into an even layer with the bottom of the measuring cup. Bake the crust until fragrant and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes.

3.  Remove the crust from the oven, sprinkle with the milk chocolate, and let sit until the chocolate is softened but not melted, about 5 minutes.  Smooth the softened chocolate into an even layer.  

4.  Layer the Rice Krispies, pecans, chocolate chips, then coconut into the pan, in that order, pressing on each layer to adhere.  Whisk the condensed milk and vanilla together and pour this mixture evenly over the top.  Bake the bars until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.

5.  Let the bars cook completely in the pan, set on a wire rack, about 2 hours.  Remove the bars from the pan using the foil, cut into squares, and serve.

Directions with pictures:

1. Line a 13 by 9 inch baking pan with a foil sling and grease the foil.

 2.  Process the toffee bits to a fine powder in a food processor, about 10 seconds.

  Add the graham cracker pieces and continue to process the mixture to fine crumbs, about 30 seconds.

  Drizzle the melted butter over the crumbs and pulse to incorporate.

  Sprinkle the crumbs into the prepared pan and press into an even layer with the bottom of the measuring cup.

Bake the crust until fragrant and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes.

 3.  Remove the crust from the oven, sprinkle with the milk chocolate, and let sit until the chocolate is softened but not melted, about 5 minutes.  Smooth the softened chocolate into an even layer.  

Sorry, I got carried away and forgot to take a picture of this step

     4. Layer the Rice Krispies, pecans, chocolate chips, then coconut into the pan, in that order, pressing on each layer to                                  adhere.

 Whisk the condensed milk and vanilla together and pour this mixture evenly over the top. 

Bake the bars until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.

5.  Let the bars cook completely in the pan, set on a wire rack, about 2 hours.  

  Remove the bars from the pan using the foil, cut into squares, and serve.

xoxo

j