About These Small Batch Magic Cookie Bars
These magic cookie bars made with Nonni’s Salted Caramel Biscotti are a small batch version of a classic, old-fashioned favorite: 7 layer bars! Layers of biscotti cookie crumbs, chocolate chips, toasted coconut, and pecans make up every bite of the cookie bar.
The best part? This recipe uses sweetened condensed milk to bind all these different ingredients and layers together. And when baked in the oven, sweetened condensed milk turns golden and toasty—its flavor and texture becomes very similar to dulce de leche caramel. So think of these cookie bars as dulce de leche caramel bars loaded with cookie crumbs, chocolate, coconut, and nuts!
Looking for more delicious cookie bar recipes? Check out Hummingbird High’s Brownies, Blondies, and Bars recipe collection! Popular recipes include these Chewy and Fudgy Purple Ube Brownies and these Small Batch Almond Flour Brownies.
This small batch magic cookie bars post is sponsored by Nonni’s. I received product and compensation, but all opinions are my own.
What Are Magic Cookie Bars?
“Magic” refers to how the bars are made. Why? These cookie bars are pretty effortless! The recipe does not require you to cream butter, sugar, and eggs to make a dough or batter like other cookie bars traditionally do (in fact, the recipe doesn’t even call for sugar or eggs). Instead, all you need to do are layer the ingredients together—that’s it! Pretty magical, right?
What’s The Difference Between Magic Cookie Bars versus 7 Layer Bars And Hello Dolly Bars?
Absolutely nothing. The original name for these bars was actually “Hello Dolly Bars”. However, as the years went on, they became more well known by the name that was given to them by the sweetened condensed milk company: “Seven Layer Magic Cookie Bars”. But because that name is a pretty big mouthful, most people either say “Magic Cookie Bars” or “7 Layer Bars” instead.
They’re all the same thing, though!
Why You Should Make The Recipe
This magic cookie bar recipe is small batch.
Most magic cookie bar recipes instruct you to bake them in a 9 x 13-inch cake pan, yielding 20 bars. However, this recipe tells you to bake them in a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. It turns out that a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan is actually a quarter of the size of a 9 x 13-inch cake pan, making it perfect for small batch baking. What does that mean exactly? This recipe makes 8 petite bars, or 2 to 3 large servings. It’s the perfect amount for a small household!
These small batch magic cookie bars comes together quickly and easily.
I kid you not—this magic cookie bar recipe is currently one of the fastest and easiest cookie recipes on my blog. Most recipes instruct you to pull out a stand mixer and cream together butter, sugar, and eggs. But not this baby, nope. All you need to do is layer the ingredients together to build the bars. The whole thing takes less than 5 minutes!
These small batch magic cookie bars are egg-free.
In the past few weeks, I received many requests for egg-free baking recipes through my Instagram account. Many of you have egg allergies or sensitivities, or belong in households with members that do. Good news—these small batch magic cookie bars are 100% egg-free!
Ingredients and Substitutions
Now that I’ve convinced you to make this small batch magic cookie bar recipe, here’s your shopping list:
Shopping List
- pecans
- Nonni’s Salted Caramel Biscotti
- butter
- sweetened condensed milk
- chocolate chips
- sweetened flaked coconut
- flaky sea salt
And let’s talk about some key ingredients and potential substitutions:
Ingredient Sources and Substitutions
- Pecans. I used pecans in my magic cookie bars, but you can use whatever nuts you prefer or have on hand. I can see these magic cookie bars working really well with almonds, hazelnuts, and macadamia nuts.
- Nonni’s Salted Caramel Biscotti. Nonni’s Biscotti are Italian almond biscuits that are twice-baked. Doing so gives them a unique, crunchy texture perfect that’s perfect for dunking in coffee and other hot beverages. Each box of Nonni’s Biscotti contains eight ready-made biscotti cookies. The biscotti are rich in flavor, crunchy texture and delicately sweet. Best of all? They’re made from real, wholesome ingredients, including eggs, butter and sugar!
Nonni’s Biscotti comes in a variety of different flavors. My personal favorite is Nonni’s Salted Caramel Biscotti. This biscotti is studded with caramel, as well as dipped and strung in milk chocolate and sea salt. On its own, it’s plenty delicious. But you can use other flavors of Nonni’s Biscotti to make these magic cookie bars. I recommend Nonni’s Originali Biscotti or Nonni’s Cioccolati Biscotti in this recipe as well. - Chocolate Chips. Check out my favorite chocolate chips in this post about The Best Chocolate For Baking Chocolate Chip Cookies. My recommendations also work great in this magic cookie bar recipe! For these bars, I recommend using bittersweet or extra dark chocolate chips.
- Sweetened Flaked Coconut. Note that sweetened flaked coconut is different from dried shredded coconut, desiccated coconut, and coconut flakes. This recipe works best if you use sweetened flaked coconut.
How to Make The Recipe
Here are the basic steps to make small batch magic cookie bars from scratch:
- First, toast the nuts. (Work Time: 10 minutes)
The small batch magic cookie bars are made with toasted nuts. Toasting the nuts releases oils that rejuvenates the nuts and makes them more flavorful—learn more in the Recipe FAQ section below! The easiest way to toast nuts is to spread them in a thin layer on a sheet pan and bake in the oven until fragrant and lightly toasted. - Next, make the Nonni’s Salted Caramel Biscotti cookie crumb crust. (Work Time: 5 minutes)
To make the cookie crumb crust, pulse 4 Nonni’s Salted Caramel Biscotti in a food processor until the biscotti turns into crumbs. Pour melted butter over the cookies and toss with a rubber spatula until the mixture looks like wet sand. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and use your hands to press the crust evenly over the bottom of the pan. - Now, layer the magic cookie bars. (Work Time: 5 minutes)
Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the cookie crumb crust and smooth it evenly over the crust. Then, alternate sprinkling the chocolate chips, pecans, and coconut over the sweetened condensed milk. That’s it! - Bake the magic cookie bars. (Bake Time: 22 minutes)
Bake the magic cookie bars for 22 to 24 minutes, or until the edges are set and bubbling but the center still wobbles slightly. At this point, both the sweetened condensed milk and coconut should have a beautiful, toasted golden color.
Recipe Troubleshooting and FAQ
Can I bake these small batch magic cookie bars in an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan instead of a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan?
Yes! However, your bars will likely be taller and thicker than mine. You may need to add a minute or two to Bake Time as well.
Why do I need to toast the pecans?
Honestly, you can skip this step to save time, but your magic cookie bars likely won’t be as good and flavorful as mine. Why? Toasting nuts brings out more flavorful oils within the nuts themselves, leading to deeper flavors. You also improve their texture by adding snap and crunchiness. If you skip this step, you’ll be sacrificing flavor and texture in your bars!
Many stores sell “roasted” nuts. These are technically nuts that have already been toasted. However, the longer they sit, the staler and less flavorful they become. So even if you have roasted nuts on hand, I suggest that you toast them anyway. You may want to toast for less time than what’s listed in the recipe below—I’d start checking for doneness at the 5 minute mark.
Can I freeze the baked magic cookie bars?
Yes! Baked magic cookie bars freeze well when baked. Follow the recipe’s instructions for cooling and slicing the bars, then wrap each bar individually in plastic wrap.
To serve, you can eat the bars straight from the freezer—the bars will remain chewy enough for you to eat without thawing! Alternatively, you can transfer the bars to the fridge to thaw overnight for a softer mouthfeel. However, note that, after being frozen and thawed, the bars will lose their crispy edges. Instead, they will be completely chewy throughout.
Best Recipe Tips
Ingredient Tip
- To make Nonni’s Salted Caramel Biscotti cookie crumbs, use a digital scale to weigh out as many biscotti cookies as needed to match the weight listed in the recipe. I used around 4 biscotti. Use a food processor to pulse the biscotti cookies into fine crumbs.
Technique Tips
- When researching different magic cookie bar recipes, I saw some recipes that instructed you to spread the cookie crumbs over a pan, then pour butter over the crumbs, and layer the rest of the ingredients on top. Doing so makes these bars even MORE magical and eliminates the need to use a bowl—you can literally use your baking pan as a bowl! While this technique sounds great in theory, it never really worked in practice. The cookie crumb layer always fell apart when sliced. So for my recipe, I decided to just mix the biscotti crumbs and butter together in a separate bowl and press the resulting mixture into the pan.
- I also saw recipes that instructed you to make the bars by pouring either all or half the amount of sweetened condensed milk on top of the different layers. Folks argued that doing so binds all the different layers together and gives the sweetened condensed milk even more toasted, delicious flavor. While I liked the results of this technique, it was hard to see the different ingredients in the bars—to me, that’s one of the most appealing things about this recipe! However, if you are a big fan of dulce de leche caramel, I definitely encourage you to pour the sweetened condensed milk in last.
Serving Tip
- I mentioned throughout the post that this small batch magic cookie bar recipe makes 8 petite bars. However, you can also slice them to make 2 larger bakery-style cookie bars. To make 8 petite bars, unmold the bars from the pan and slice them lengthwise. Hold the two long slices together, and slice them into quarters crosswise. This will create 8 petite magic cookie bar squares. For 2 large bakery-style bars, simply slice the unmolded cookie bars block into two halves crosswise.
Video Tutorial
Use the video player below to watch my Instagram Story tutorial on how to make this small batch magic cookie bars recipe! The arrows to the left and right of the frame allow you to skip through the different recipe steps. You can also hit the “pause” or “enlarge” buttons on the upper right hand side of the frame to pause or enlarge the frames accordingly.
Alternatively, head to my Instagram profile to watch these Stories on mobile! The circles underneath my bio indicate saved Instagram Story highlights depicting various recipes. Clicking on one of the circles will play the videos you see above. You may need to scroll right to find this small batch magic cookie bars recipe.
Get the Recipe: Small Batch Magic Cookie Bars Recipe
Ingredients
For the Small Batch Magic Cookie Bars
- ⅓ cup (1.5 ounces or 43 grams) pecans, roughly chopped into ¼- to ½-inch pieces
- ⅔ cup (3 ounces or 85 grams) Nonni's Salted Caramel Biscotti cookie crumbs
- 3 Tablespoons (1.5 ounces or 43 grams) unsalted butter, melted
- ⅔ cup (7 ounces or 198 grams) sweetened condensed milk
- ½ cup (3 ounces or 85 grams) bittersweet or extra-dark chocolate chips
- ⅓ cup (1 ounce or 28 grams) sweetened flaked coconut
- flaky sea salt
Instructions
For the Small Batch Magic Cookie Bars
- Prep your oven and pan. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously spray a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on the pan's two long sides. Spray the parchment, too.
- Toast the nuts. Line a quarter sheet pan with parchment paper. Spread the pecans in a single layer across the pan. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes, or until fragrant and toasted brown. Use a heatproof rubber spatula to toss the nuts every 2 to 3 minutes to ensure even toasting. Once toasted, scrape the nuts onto a plate to prevent them from cooking further.
- Make the biscotti crust. In a medium bowl, combine the Nonni's Salted Caramel Biscotti cookie crumbs and melted butter. Use a rubber spatula to toss the mixture until it looks like wet sand. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and use your hands to press it evenly over the bottom of the pan, all the way to the edges. (You can use the bottom of a coffee mug or heavy glass to pound the crumbs in place—you want to apply some pressure here so the crust holds its shape.)
- Assemble the bars. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the crust and use an offset spatula to spread it evenly over the crust and smooth the top. Sprinkle half the chocolate chips and coconut over the milk. Sprinkle all the nuts over the chocolate and coconut, then sprinkle the remaining chocolate and coconut halves over the nuts. Use your hands to gently press on top of the ingredients to bind them to the sweetened condensed milk.
- Bake the bars. Bake for 22 to 24 minutes, or until the sides of the bar are set and bubbling but the center still wobbles slightly. Place the bars on a wire rack and garnish with flaky sea salt. Cool for 15 minutes, then run a butter knife or offset spatula along the edges of the pan. Continue cooling the bars completely.
- Serve and store. Once the bars are cool, use the overhanging parchment as handles to lift the bars out of the pan and onto a cutting board. Use a hot knife (see FAQ) to slice and serve. The magic cookie bars can be stored in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days.
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Weeknight Baking:
Recipes to Fit your Schedule
Over the past several years of running Hummingbird High, I kept a crucial aspect of my life hidden from my readers: I had a full-time, extremely demanding job in the tech world. In my debut cookbook, Weeknight Baking, I finally reveal the secrets to baking delicious desserts on a tight schedule.
You know, I was surprised by how much I liked these. Sweetened condensed milk makes most things better.
I’ve never been a big fan of graham crackers so this is right up my alley. The salted caramel biscotti looks delish so I just added it to my grocery list. Will report back once I’ve made them.