Let’s put the healthier eating on hold for a sec. Quick, what’s your favorite candy bar? Mine are Snicker’s. I like to keep little bite sized snickers bars around for a small little treat every now and then—I like them frozen. Am I the only one who likes frozen Snicker’s bars? Besides you, Mom! Anyway, I went a little crazy recently and added anything and everything “snickers-y” into a layered dessert bar. Making a 7 layer bar (aka magic bar) is SO easy. Throw a bunch of stuff into a pan and cover it with sweetened condensed milk—just make sure you have a sturdy crust. The options are endless! And today, the option is Snickers. I hope you’re ready for this. Let’s dissect these layer by layer. I wanted to shoot photos of each layer for you but I made these bars early one dark morning, wearing my glasses, and well… I can’t really use a camera wearing my glasses. And I’m dangerously blind without my glasses. Start with a graham cracker crust. That is the first layer. I used low-fat honey graham crackers and pulverized them with my food processor. You may buy graham cracker crumbs or crush up full graham cracker sheets—I’ll leave that up to you. Mix the crumbs with melted butter and press into an 8×8-inch pan. I love that this recipe is a smaller batch recipe. Typical 7 Layer Bar recipes make a large 9×13-inch batch. Trust me, I do not need this many tempting caramel-laden, snickers-gooey, buttery little bars around the house. This small-batch recipe is perfect. Moving along to all the fun layers! I thought about all of the things packed inside my beloved Snickers bars and dug through my pantry to find the appropriate goodies. First, top the crust with milk chocolate chips (2nd layer). Add a layer of peanut butter chips (3rd layer). Yes, I realize that regular Snickers do not have peanut butter in them, but in my world, peanut butter is ALWAYS welcome. Next, add chopped Snickers bars (4th layer), soft caramel candies (5th layer), and chopped dry-roasted peanuts (6th layer). The soft caramel candies and the caramel from the Snickers melt all over, making these bars SO gooey. Gooey and sticky and sweet. Tip: make sure you have napkins handy when you eat them. Pour the 7th and final layer on top of everything. Sweetened condensed milk is the most crucial ingredient involved, binding all of these glorious layers together. You’ll want to completely drench the layers with a nice pour. As the bars bake, the sweetened condensed milk bubbles around the top and edges of the pan, sinking down into every last layer. The baked sweetened condensed milk makes the bars unbelievably chewy and it reminds me of a Snicker’s bar nougat filling. Every last bite of these is packed with everything you love about a Snickers bar. And they have chopped Snickers bars on top too. It’s a double Snickers experience. 😉 There are so many tastes and textures going on in these! A buttery crust, soft milk chocolate, crunchy peanuts, lots of peanut butter chips, gooey caramel, SNICKER’S BARS, and sticky sweetened condensed milk. Each bite has something completely different—a texture lover’s dream come true. And a Snickers lover’s dream come true. If you love the texture variety from these bars, try my red velvet seven layer bars next!
