Peanut Butter Butterscotch Magic Bars

A stack of three 7-layer bars surrounded by some of the mix-in ingredients: coconut, peanut butter chips, peanuts, butterscotch sauce, and chocolate chips.

Peanut Butter Butterscotch Magic Bars

Gooey, chewy, crunchy, and almost precariously loaded, these peanut butter butterscotch magic bars are an upscale spin on classic Hello Dolly bars. Salty butterscotch sauce and creamy peanut butter balance all that sweet, sticky goodness for a bar that keeps you coming back for just one more little square.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 30

Total Time 50

Servings 1 1/2" squares

Calories 155kcal

Author Jennifer Field

Equipment

Ingredients

For the Crust

150 grams Graham cracker crumbs 5.3 oz or 1 1/3 cup, homemade or store-bought
30 grams creamy peanut butter 1.1 oz or 2 Tablespoons
15 grams butter* 0.5 oz or 1 Tablespoon, salted or unsalted, see Notes
10 grams brown sugar 0.4 oz or 2 1/2 teaspoons, packed, dark brown or light brown
100 grams butterscotch sauce 3.5 oz or about 1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons, homemade or store-bought

For the Filling

110 grams sweetened condensed milk 3.9 oz or about 1/3 cup
55 grams creamy peanut butter 1.9 oz or about 3 Tablespoons
40 grams shredded coconut 1.4 oz or about 1/2 cup, unsweetened preferred
80 grams bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips 2.8 oz or about 1/2 cup
80 grams peanut butter chips 2.8 oz or about 1/2 cup
40 grams salted peanuts 1.4 oz or about 1/3 cup, chopped or not--either works
40 grams lightly toasted chopped pecans 1.4 oz or about 1/3 cup
100 grams butterscotch sauce 3.5 oz or about 1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons, homemade or store-bought

To Finish

10 grams shredded coconut a small handful, unsweetened preferred
1-2 pinch finishing salt** Optional. See Notes

Instructions

Mise en Place

Set a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F / 177°C. Line the bottom and up two sides of an 8" square (20cm) baking pan with parchment paper folded or cut to fit. Lightly spray the "unparchmented" sides of the pan with pan spray. Set aside.

For the Crust

In a medium, microwave-safe bowl, warm together the butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar. 20-30 seconds should do it. Whisk until smooth.
Dump in the crumbs and stir/fold until the crumbs are evenly moistened.
Evenly press the crust into the prepared pan. The crust should be about 1/4" thick.
Drizzle the butterscotch sauce over the crust and spread very lightly with an offset spatula. The crust doesn't need to be perfectly coated, and since it isn't baked yet, use a light hand so you don't dislodge the crumbs.

For the Filling

In a small bowl, assemble the 40 grams of shredded coconut, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, peanuts, and lightly toasted chopped pecans.
In the same bowl you made the crust in, add the sweetened condensed milk and creamy peanut butter. Microwave for no more than 20 seconds, enough to loosen up the peanut butter but not make it so hot that you start to melt your chocolate chips. Whisk until smooth.
Fold all the mix-ins into the sweetened condensed milk/peanut butter mixture. Try to coat everything evenly, mixing and folding to incorporate the Very Lot of mix-ins.
Blob the filling mixture all over the crust, and use pan-sprayed hands or a pan-sprayed offset spatula to press the mixture evenly over the crust until you have an unbroken layer of mix-ins that's about 1/2" (12 mm) thick.
Drizzle the other 100 grams of butterscotch sauce over the top. No need to spread it out.

To Finish and Bake

Sprinkle the small handful of coconut over the butterscotch sauce.
If using store-bought butterscotch that is not assertively salted, sprinkle on a pinch or 2 of finishing salt before baking.
Bake on the center rack for 25-35 minutes, rotating 180° halfway through. For reference, mine took 28 minutes to bake. You are looking for the bars to bubble vigorously around the edges with some bubbling across their surface. The coconut will toast to a light golden brown across the surface with deeper browning around the edges.
Remove the bars to cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Then, loosen the edges that aren't on parchment, and use the parchment overhang to pull the bars out to cool completely on a rack.
Once completely cool, wrap the bars in foil, either as-is or back in the baking pan, and chill for at least 2 hours before slicing into your desired size with an 8" chef's knife.
Serve chilled or at room temperature. Store leftovers, well-wrapped, in the fridge for up to a week.

Notes

To Reiterate

*Store-bought Graham crackers are drier than homemade. You may need up to twice the butter to get a crust that holds together well.
**Taste your butterscotch sauce. If it isn't assertively salty, sprinkle the assembled bars with a judicious amount of finishing salt before baking.
Don't wait for the bars to look dry or set. They're done when they're bubbling around the edges and across the surface and the coconut is golden, with deeper browning around the edges.

Nutrition