Cooking with Kids: Magic Cookie Bars or Seven Layer Bars

Yay! My sister AnnaLisa has graduated from college and has come to stay with us this summer! Not only is she a great help with all the kids, but she's also brought a whole new bunch of recipes for us to try! This recipe from one of her roommates lent itself perfectly to our new Cooking with Kids series, since it's just a matter of layering all of the ingredients! You'll need to help them get started with melting the butter in the pan, but after that's out they should be able to do the rest completely by themselves! Make sure you check back here every Monday for more Cooking with Kids ideas. By the way, in case you hadn't noticed, I LOVE exclamation points today!!!!!

The ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 can (14-oz.) sweetened condensed milk

1-2 cups butterscotch chips

1 cup chocolate chips

1-1/2 cups flaked coconut

1 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter in 9x13-inch baking dish and melt in oven. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs evenly over butter. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumbs, keeping at least 1/2 inch from the edge. Evenly layer the rest of the ingredients. Press down with fork to help it all stick together a little better.

Aunt AnnaLisa and Cami (11) pressing down on the layers.

Bake 25 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool and store at room temperature. Cut into squares, triangles, or diamonds. Serves 24 (or a bunch of hungry kids).

Enjoy!