Today was my last day at my job! On Monday, I begin a new role – I’ll be in the same company, but I’m transferring to a project management role in our International business unit. I’ll be traveling a lot more (in fact, I’ll be on a plane to Hong Kong on my first day on the job), and working on some really neat projects with our teams around the world, with the side benefit of getting to tell you all about the awesome foods I get to try. I’m very excited about my new job, but the past few days have been bittersweet. This was my first job out of college, and I’ve had two and a half great years in the group that I’m leaving. I’ve learned a ton, developed so much more confidence in myself, and, maybe most importantly, met some really great people. When I was first looking for jobs, I didn’t realize the sheer volume of time you spend with your coworkers, and I consider myself lucky to have found myself in a group of smart, entertaining, and caring people who have become my close friends. I spent a good part of most days at work laughing with an intensity that I never expected to experience in a workplace, and I know I’m lucky to be able to say that. I’m certainly planning on maintaining my friendships with everyone, but it will be different not being there for the little day to day stories and jokes. So, thank you CS&R, for being awesome.
Although I’ve brought baked goods in to work once or twice, I have to admit that overall, I probably fell short of my coworkers’ expectations of having a food blogger around. So today, to celebrate my time in the group and make good on all my “yeah I’ll make those someday” promises, I brought in a batch of classic, gooey, super sweet seven layer bars. I considered going all fancy/homemade with these – you know, homemade cookie crust, a caramel drizzle, etc. – but in the end, what I really wanted was just the classic version, over-processed store bought ingredients and all. So that’s what I made, although it turns out that if you live in Cambridge, it’s pretty difficult/expensive to try and find things like sweetened coconut flakes, butterscotch chips, and sweetened condensed milk when Wholefoods has taken over the local grocery scene (typically a good thing, but not for something like this). Still, these are certainly worth making in my book, and hopefully my coworkers thought so too. Now I just have to start managing the baking expectations of my new coworkers.
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Peppermint Bark Brownies
Blackberry Cheesecake Bars
Toffee-Coconut Crack Cookies
Classic Seven-Layer Bars
Adapted from Brown-Eyed Baker. Makes 18-24 bars.
- 1 package of graham crackers (8 or 9 whole crackers)
- 1 stick butter (8 TBS) melted
- 1 1/2 c. whole pecans, coarsely chopped
- 1 c. semisweet chocolate chips
- 3/4 c. white chocolate chips
- 1/2 c. butterscotch chips
- 1 c. sweetened coconut flakes
- 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13 inch baking pan with tinfoil so that the foil hangs slightly over the sides. Place graham crackers in a blender and pulse several times until crackers are finely ground. Pour into a bowl and add the melted butter, stirring to fully coat the crumbs with the butter. Spread the buttered crumbs into the bottom of the lined pan, pressing to create a thin and even layer.
- In order, sprinkle the chopped pecans, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and coconut flakes evenly over the graham cracker crust. Spoon or pour the can of sweetened condensed milk evenly over the surface of the entire pan. Place in the preheated oven and bake until the top is golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for about two hours. Cover and store in the fridge.
Would this work without the pecans and coconut? Those are two ingredients that happen to not be ‘my kid’ friendly but the bars sound so delicious I want to try them!
This recipe is very flexible, they would probably still be delicious without the pecans and coconut. You could easily replace the pecans with another nut, as well.
Excelllenttt! :)
so yummy….thanks for recipe……..
Mmmm… these are making my mouth water! Love these! I’m not going to lie, if I had one right now, I’d definitely eat it for breakfast. :) Congrats on the new job!
This is a family staple! My mom makes these all the time!
I nominated you for the Sunshine Award!
http://foodlikecake.wordpress.com/2014/03/29/sunshine-award/
These are so high on my guilty pleasure list, but I’ve never made them myself (now I really have no excuse…). Good luck on the new gig, and I’m looking forward to the food adventures to come!
I love these! It’s been so long since I had them! Looks wonderful! Nice pictures, too!
Congratulations on starting your new job Katie! Wow, I can’t believe that you’re jetting out on your first day… excitement plus! These bars look so wonderful. I’ve seen seven layer bars on pinterest before but I’ve never actually tried them. They look deliciously indulgent… in the best of ways :) Good luck for tomorrow! xx
Congratulations on your new role and good luck. Me too, tomorrow is my last day in my current role and I am moving to a new role as a recruiter.
Congratulations on the new job. Take lots of photos in Hong Kong. Love your photos. I love using dark wood in my photography as well. Makes the food pop.
Seven-Layer Bars (or Dream Bars, as I call them!) are one of my favorite desserts! So easy to make, and SO delicious!!!
Haven’t had these in ages..thanks for making me hungry! Looks like a great recipe.
-simmeredandsewn
Congrats on the new job. Looking forward to following your continued travels on Instagram.
Yum. I was just looking for this recipe today. Perfect
I want one of these right now! Like- this moment! They look absolutely delicious. And great pics too.
Mmmm… Two longest hours of waiting ever for these to cool!
We always made them with sweetened coconut, semisweet chocolate chips and walnuts. We called them bikini bars
Definately going to try these – love new recipes – Have a massive sweet tooth.
I wish you the best on your job, someone bought these to work(they were bought at a bakery) and ever since I have been craving them. I have been to several bakeries with no luck, yours look so good and love the idea of the sweet coconut. I will be out buying the stuff to buy them tonight, yours look so yummy and beautiful. thanks for sharing
Sharon W
Hey Katie! Another Bostonian here :) Thank you so much for this recipe- my mom has always wanted to try making Seven Layer Bars but for some reason was convinced that they would be too hard to bake. I told her I would google the recipe and we could just try it out. We followed your recipe and they came out great! My mom is so thrilled and we had so much fun baking them together. Thanks again for posting this!
Sarah thank you so much for sharing that story! These are the best – simple and sweet. I’m so glad you and your mom enjoyed them.
My best friend makes these all the time and shares them with me. SHe calls them Hello Dollies. They are so good. I could eat a whole pan of them. They are that dangerous. I normally spread them out and have one a day with a cup of coffee. Soooo good. Congrats on your new position and good luck.
Made these for some friends who also bake, they suggested adding a little bit of salt to cut the richness down a bit and also to add marshmallows? Have you ever done either of these? I loved the decadence of them as is!:) but since I will likely be making these for a party or having company over I would like to please the masses as much as possible:) thank you!
Hi Ysa! I’m so glad you like them. A little bit of salt wouldn’t hurt – I would add a pinch to the graham cracker and butter crust (I frequently use salted butter when baking, so generally omit additional salt, but a little here would be fine). Personally, I think marshmallows would be overkill – the bars are already so sweet and sticky! But adding some mini marshmallows in wouldn’t hurt the consistency of the end product, so if you want to try it, go for it.
These look great! Do you just use raw pecans or are they roasted?
I used raw pecans, although you could toast them first for even deeper flavor!
A devine alternative to this recipe is to replace the graham cracker crumbs with one box of devil’s food cake mix and prepare the same! Mmmmmmm!
I’ve made these before but I have never lined my dish with foil and I always have problems with the crust sticking to my dish. Would parchment paper work? I also have aluminum foil that has a non stick side. I have to make these for a potluck and I don’t want them to stick again! Thank you, yours look absolutely perfect!
I didn’t have any problems with the foil sticking but another reader did. You could certainly try parchment paper instead.
Can I ask the point of the aluminum foil? I’m sitting here in Thanksgiving morning, peeling it off of the bottom, a sliver at a time..
Oh I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you, what a pain! I like the aluminum foil because it allows you to lift the bars out of the pan and neatly slice them. I’ve never had a problem with it sticking. Baking without the aluminum foil would be fine, just butter the bottom of your pan a bit!
I use baking spray on my dish and there is no stuck-to-the-pan mess. I also use semisweet, milk chocolate, dark chocolate & butterscotch chips. And found a neat tip to add (+)1/4 tsp ground cinnamon to the crust when mixing w/melted butter. They turned out awesome. Took to work and they were gone before 10 am!
just want to say that I love your website name. it is from the song about the stuttering boy right?
Yes! My grandmother used to sing it to me when I was little :-)