Grampy's Magic Bars

Recognize these guys?

They were a welcome and familiar site on my grandmother's kitchen table back in the early 80's. Magic Bars. Could there be a more enticing treat for a gaggle of sweets-loving granddaughters? I think not. Grammyarta, as she was known, tended to agree.

Last week my dad, known as Grampy by many these days, celebrated his 76th birthday. Sadly, hundreds of miles away, we didn't get to spend the day with him, but we did whip him up a batch of Magic Bars. Happy birthday, Dad!

That's a good-looking 76, don't you think?!

Of course, the Magic Bars of yore were topped with chopped walnuts and sometimes, if we were really lucky, pecans. These days we avoid tree nuts here at Casa Kid Cultivation but guess what we don't avoid?

Pretzels. And pepitas. The two work together to deliver all the crunchy, salty, meaty flavor of nuts...without the nuts! So gather the troops and let the kids take the lead. This is the ultimate easy-peasy kid-friendly, grampy-approved recipe.

Grampy's Magic Bars
adapted from Eagle Brand

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 & 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
2 cups chocolate chips
1 & 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped pretzels
1/2 cup pepitas

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease or spray a 9"x13" pan with cooking spray.

Put your graham crackers (I used about 7 ounces, or 1/2 a regular-sized 14.4 ounce box) in a large zip-top bag and let the kids bang the heck out of it with a rolling pin or baseball bat until you have crumbs.

Once you have crumbs, pour the melted butter directly into the zip-top bag, reseal, and mash the butter around into the crumbs until it's all combined.

Press the butter-crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Here's a trick. If you're careful, you can dump the crumbs into the pan, turn the plastic bag inside out and, placing your hand into what used to be the outside, use the messy, buttery inside of the bag to press down the crumbs like so. 

There. I just saved you a hand washing. You're welcome.

Pour the sweetened condensed milk in an even layer over the graham crackers.

Scatter the chocolate chips over the milk.

Add the pretzels and pepitas...

Then the coconut. Did I mention this is the perfect kid-driven recipe?

Pop them in the oven for 22-25 minutes until lightly browned. 

 Let them cool then cut into bars. Send them to your dad or grampy for his birthday.

 But make sure you save a few for yourselves.

Frozen Banana Sundae Pops and Chocolate Pretzel Coconut Bark

Given the recent slew of triple digit temperatures, we can't eat our ice cream fast enough. After losing one too many scoops to the deck monster who yanks them off cones every time I turn my back, we decided to give frozen bananas a try. Slower melt time, nice creamy texture, a few additional nutrients, dark chocolate coating and we could choose our own toppings!

I skewered bananas, froze them for a bit, dipped them in melted dark chocolate and handed them off to the troops who slathered them in crushed pretzels, freeze dried strawberries, rainbow sprinkles, graham cracker crumbs, and flaky coconut. I meant to take pictures of that part but a giant bowl of melted chocolate and six little hands didn't lend itself to a leisurely photo shoot. So, you get the finished product instead.

Frozen Banana Sundae Pops
(serves 10)

5 large, firm bananas
1 10-ounce package chocolate chips
10 skewers or Popsicle sticks
Assorted toppings of your choice. We used rainbow sprinkles, graham cracker crumbs, crushed pretzels, freeze-dried strawberries, and flaked coconut but the options are endless (M&Ms, white chocolate chips, crushed cookies, mini marshmallows, candy corn, popcorn, nuts, crushed saltine crackers, hot cinnamon candies, crushed candy canes, you  name it!)

1. Peel the bananas and cut them in half crosswise. Skewer the bananas and place on a parchment lined baking sheet in the freezer for an hour so they'll be nice and firm for dipping. Crush graham crackers, cookies, or pretzels in plastic baggies using a mallet (great kid job) and lay each topping out on a plate.
2. When the bananas are firm, pour the chocolate chips into a microwave-safe bowl and heat in 20 second intervals, stirring often, until melted. Carefully dip bananas one at a time and coat with desired toppings. Return to parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze until hard, about 2 hours.

The coconut was a revelation for the girls who up to this point had flat out rejected it on top of granola, in cookies, and anywhere else they encountered it. Suddenly they couldn't get enough and emptied our topping bowl before the bananas were done. For a minute there Looly truly believed she'd discovered the epic combo of coconut and chocolate.

Roo, for the record, did sample a coconut flake but the texture was too much for him and he spit it out. And sadly, we had another sprinkles incident you can read about here. For few moments, though, he was totally digging his banana.

All tasty indeed but the real star of the show turned out to be the frozen chocolate pretzel coconut bark I made with the leftovers. As tasty as any candy bar and so incredibly easy!

Chocolate Pretzel Coconut Bark

1 bag chocolate chips (we used Ghiradelli Bittersweet Baking Chips)
1 cup pretzels, any shape, crushed or chopped
1/2 cup flaked coconut

Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl, heating in 20 second intervals and stirring in between until just melted. Lay a piece of parchment paper on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle half the pretzels on the parchment. Pour chocolate over the pretzels. Top with remaining pretzels and sprinkle coconut on top. Place baking sheet in the freezer for an hour or more. Remove and break chocolate bark into pieces. Store in the freezer for an extra refreshing summer treat.