Seven Layer Bars Are Really Six Layers, but I Wanted Eight!
No matter how you count the layers, the seven layer bar is good fun. But we wanted to ratchet down the sugar level and find a more interesting combination of ingredients.
Let’s do the math. Most seven layer bars count the graham crust as two layers and add five more layers on top. They melt butter in the baking pan, then add the graham cracker crumbs as if these two ingredients make up two distinct layers, not a simple crust. Come on guys, really?
What follows (at least for most of the recipes) are coconut, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, nuts, and sweetened condensed milk to fuse everything together. Some recipes add an additional layer of toffee bar pieces, a caramel drizzle, or even flaky sea salt. My goal was to make this a true seven-layer bar, so I needed to find one more layer that gave this recipe a real upgrade.
I finally settled on adding a brownie layer on top of the bottom crust. A thin layer of brownie provides a distinct second layer in addition to the crust. Then comes the jumble of stuff on top. The brownie batter is made with cocoa and quickly mixed by hand.
One problem with these bars is that they are way too sweet. So, instead of using chocolate chips or peanut butter chips, I added Rice Krispies. They have a great crunch and don’t come with any additional sugar. As a bonus, I also added a few mini marshmallows, which rise to the top during baking and get golden-toasted. If you want to also add chocolate chips, you can scatter them onto the top of the recipe just before baking.
I kept the coconut, pecans and sweetened condensed milk. Some recipes pour the milk over the crust and press toppings into it; some add it last as the final layer. I didn’t want anything pressed into the brownie batter, but did want some of the topping to stand upright and offer textural contrast, so I added the milk after the coconut, then topped with pecans and chocolate chips.
So now I had a legitimate eight layer bar: bottom crust, brownie layer, Rice Krispies, coconut, pecans, miniature marshmallows, sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips on the top, one that had a better texture and was less sweet. My serving suggestion is to bake these bars for the kids and then eat most of them yourself when they aren’t looking.
Eight Layer Bars
I have added a brownie layer to this bar and also cut back on the chips, using Rice Krispies as a substitute for some of them. Please use unsweetened coconut, not the sweet stuff.
