HELPFUL TIPS THAT HELPED ME: If you're like me, you'll probably be thinking "this is way too sweet" while you put all those chocolate chips on top of the crust & YOU'LL BE RIGHT! LOL I think 1/2 cup of one or a little less than 1/2C of each is perfect!! If you do chocolate chips only, try using a mixture of semi-sweet and milk chocolate. It's an amazing blend that I always get comments on!!! Second, mine turns out perfect using just a 14oz (1 cup) can of fat-free sweetened condensed milk. Thought that may help someone when trying to decide what can to buy w/o pre-measuring. I just drizzled all over, and it covered it perfectly! Lastly, when I don't have a box of graham cracker crumbs, I just use quick oats, and it still turns out good! I like to individually wrap these in plastic wrap so the kids can just grab and go. I'd say "grab and share" but they'd prefer eating the whole thing themselves!
These are always the first to go during the holiday period. I usually increase the graham cracker crust so the bar has a more solid base and the chocolate and butterscotch chips to 1 cup vs 3/4 cup. Wonderful recipe!
Substituted Quaker Quick 1 Minute Oats for graham cracker crumbs -- worked beautifully. Try it!
This recipe is NOT the original. You must mix the butter and crumbs together, then press into the bottom of the pan (which you definitely should grease before doing this!).
Also, put in the chocolate, then nuts, then coconut, and finally drizzle with the milk. Otherwise, the bars fall apart because there's no "glue" to hold it together.
My husband loves this one ... and so do I!! One hint - try putting the can of condensed milk in hot water for 5 minutes before pouring over the coconut, etc - it pours so easily and evenly over the rest of the bar. This may not be new to others, but I just thought of it today. Enjoy!
Although I prefer to leave the nuts off, this is the best version of this recipe. The milk MUST be on top of it all, make for a chewy, more gooey type bar. I've tried it with the milk over the crust first and it just wasn't nearly as good (disappointed). Yummy!
A great recipe... It turned out great just like it should when you exactly follow the recipe...
I find it amazing that something so easy to prepare can be so delicious! I don't like butterscotch so I used peanut butter chips instead. These cookies are really rich so the recipe goes a long way! My family's rating- a definite keeper!
The coconut wasn't browning so I baked the bars for 25 minutes and then stuck them under the broiler at low for 1-2 minutes. Broiling did just the trick- it gave the coconut a great golden color just don't over-do it in the broiler because it can get too brown really quickly.
