Chocolate Cherry Almond Magic Layer Bars

Tooth-crackingly sweet, these rich bars combine chopped almonds, dried cherries, and chocolate chips on a buttery graham cracker crumb base--perfect for you, for your Valentine . . . 

or maybe just because you got your braces off . . . 

or maybe because it's Friday?

 Follow me | Pinterest | Instagram | Facebook

Sometimes, for no reason, you need to treat yourself.  Sometimes you need a reason to treat yourself. Sometimes you need to treat others.  Either way, these bars fit the bill.  They are made with shelf stable pantry ingredients [um, plus butter] so you can whip up a batch whenever the mood, or an occasion, strikes.  I had a couple of reasons to make these (primarily a band concert, but secondarily a desire to use what I've got in the pantry without venturing out into the snow and #3 [tertiarily? thirdly?] just plain having a hankering for them.

I could call these Chocolate Cherry Almond Hello Dolly Bars, because growing up our family called the traditional bar cookie made with sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, and graham cracker crumbs Hello Dolly Bars.  I think they may be better known, outside of my family, as Magic Cookie Bars or Six Layer Bars.  I'm calling my version Chocolate Cherry Almond Magic Layer Bars to cover a number of bases.

Whenever I see dented cans of sweetened condensed milk I always pick one up, because they can hang out in the pantry until I'm ready to bake. The regular, non-dented, cans work just fine as well.

Because I've become a homemade granola maker, thanks to Meghan, I have giant bags of nuts in my fridge.  I was looking for something Valentine-ish (because, you know, a Valentine's beet crust pizza needs a dessert) and chocolate and dried cherries seemed like a good combination.  And cherries go with almonds [at least in Jergens hand lotion, love that smell] so I decided to try it in these bars.

While these bars are pretty rich, the addition of the dried cherries means that I used half the amount of chocolate chips I'd usually put in a bar cookie, so there's a little fruit & fiber for ya with your chocolate.

Where's my usual Friday Pizza Post?! New rules for 2014--I'm not going to go crazy trying to ensure I've got a pizza post ready to go every Friday. When I've got pizzas to share (and believe you me, I've got some pizzas to share. Take a gander at this Chicken BBQ Peach pizza below) I'll share them on Fridays.  Like I share muffins on Monday.  But I'll be mixing it up with other recipes as well. Need a pizza fix?  Check out my Visual Pizza Recipe Index for ideas--I've broken my recipes down by pizza dough type, vegetarian pizzas, meat pizzas, and even fruit on pizzas--all savory, all good.

Chicken BBQ Peach pizza--made last year during peach season, you can find the recipe here.

Note: I have adapted the classic bar recipe from the Eagle brand® website, though I bought my dented can at the commissary and the folks at Eagle brand® don't know me at all.

ANOTHER NOTE: This recipe is not gluten free as written, because I used graham crackers that contain gluten. To adapt this recipe for a gluten free diet please substitute the gluten free graham cracker crumbs of your choice.
Check labels to confirm that your other ingredients are also gluten free. Good sources for determining gluten free products can be found here:
http://knowgluten.me/2012/03/31/other-names-for-gluten/
http://glutenfreedoctor.com/gluten-free/
http://www.celiac.com/categories/Safe-Gluten%252dFree-Food-List-%7B47%7D-Unsafe-Foods-%26amp%3B-Ingredients/

Chocolate Cherry Almond Magic Layer Bars (adapted from the Magic Cookie Bar recipe)

Ingredients

• 2 packages graham crackers (or 1 and ½ cups graham cracker crumbs)
• 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter
• 1 cup chopped almonds
• 1 cup dried cherries, snipped into small pieces
• 1 cup chocolate chips (this would be amazing with dark chocolate chips)
• 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  
2. Pulse graham crackers in a food processor until they are in fine crumbs, or just use graham cracker crumbs to begin with. [Using 2 packages of graham crackers, you'll have about ⅓ of a cup of crumbs left over to sprinkle on yogurt or add to cookie or cake batter.] 
3. Place a stick of butter in a 9 x 13 inch baking pan and place in the preheating oven to melt.  
4. Once the butter is melted, dump the graham cracker crumbs on top and mix with a fork until the crumbs are moistened.  
5. Press down into a crust. 
6. Top with almonds, cherries, and chocolate chips.  
7. Pour most** of the can of sweetened condensed milk over the top of the chocolate chips.  
8. Use the fork to press down any areas that haven't been coated in sweetened condensed milk.  
9. Bake for 25 minutes, then cool in pan before cutting into small squares.

This post is shared on From the Farm Blog Hop, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Week in Review at Clean Eats Fast Feets, Tasty Tuesdays, What's Cookin' Wednesday, Fresh Foods Wednesday, Food on Friday

**I have a childhood memory of sitting at the top of the steps leading from our kitchen door to the back yard, with a spoon and a can of Eagle brand® sweetened condensed milk and our Basset hound, Fred.  I shared alternating spoonfuls with Fred.  It was awesome.  I don't recall either one of us getting an upset tummy from eating so much--so perhaps the can wasn't full to begin with.  Yes, yes, eeewww and all, but I was a kid.  And I still love licking the can. I just don't share these days ;)