I’m heading to San Francisco this weekend! So all you Bay Area people better hide your tempeh and get to your favorite restaurants early, lest I eat everything. I’m planning on hitting up Millenium, Cafe Gratitude (say what you will, their tiramisu rocks yours), Cha Ya, Udupi Palace and Amici Pizza, which is apparently serving Cheezly pizzas with no extra vegan cheese charge. How swell! (I don’t think I’ve ever used “swell” in a sentence, but it’s the only thing that fit.) I hope to come home with plenty of food porn, but for now feast your eyes on another recipe from the upcoming Vegan Cookies book.
Magical Coconut Cookie Bars
makes 24 very rich little bars
As the song from Xanadu (the movie) goes…you got to believe we are magic, and nothing will stand in our (and your) way once you taste this unapologetically vegany version of the stuff childhood dreams are made of. Here are the nutty, chocolately, ultra-sweet and buttery-tasting graham-crackery coconut bars you loved so much as a kid. If your childhood was lacking in them, well then these are tastier than therapy for sure. The vegan secret weapon of choice here is cooked-down coconut milk, bringing in even bigger coconut flavor than ever imagined. The ever-elusive vegan butterscotch chip, should you ever have some, makes a sublime addition too.
These bars require a good overnight chilling to really firm them up before slicing, so plan accordingly.
Tip: You’ll want to use only sweetened, fluffy white flaked coconut for these. Save the natural shredded stuff for a healthy curry.
Tip: Press the graham cracker crumb crust like crazy into the pan; the more you pat it down the firmer the resulting crust will be.
One 14 oz can (regular or lite) coconut milk (about 1 3/4 cups)
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 cups vegan graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup melted margarine
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
2 cups flaked, sweetened coconut
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
In a large saucepan whisk together coconut milk and brown sugar over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mixture may form a thin skin on the surface; just stir it back into the liquid. Remove from heat and let cool while preparing the crust.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl combine graham cracker crumbs, melted margarine and sugar; mix well to moisten crumbs completely. Firmly press mixture into prepared pan, pressing evenly from center to sides of pan.
Pour warm coconut milk mixture evenly over crumb base. Top with an even layer of chocolate chips, flaked coconut and nuts, in that order. Firmly pat everything down until coconut milk mixture soaks upward into the toppings. Bake for 28-30 minutes or until coconut is deeply golden and filling is bubbling, remove from oven and let entire pan cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Transfer pan to the refrigerator to completely cool and firm up for at least 4 hours, even better overnight or until very firm. Use a sharp, heavy knife to run along the edges of bars, slide bars on parchment paper out of pan onto a cutting board then to slice into 24 squares. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator. These also freeze well, tightly wrapped and allowed to thaw for 20 minutes before serving.
I am about to put these bars in the oven & this is the second time I have made them. I am almost regretting the fact that I made them again today because last time it only took 2 days for me and 3 accomplices to devour the entire 13×9 pan. These bars are one of the best desserts of all time. They taste even better if you store them in the freezer (especially because its damn hot outside in Texas right now) and eat them right out of the freezer. Thank you, Isa! xo
You have the goods and you share!! Everyone hates a recipe miser. I appreciate your generousity, and love buying your books.
I could kiss you full on the lips for this! this was the first thing i was ever allowed to bake by myself. i made it everytime we spent the night at my grandparents house and i have been looking for a recipe for it to veganize myself for ages! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU X infinity
These are absolutely INSANE. They are so delish. Tried them while still warm…. they are unbelievable. I made them for a party on Sunday, it’s Thursday night. I think I’ll have to make another batch……The non-vegans will be clueless. I’ll write again after the party.
I just need to say that I am so glad to see a vegan version of these by the wonderful chef Isa! I have been missing them every year like MAD! These little bars are a family tradition around Christmas time in my household, only it is the recipe from the Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk can! = )
THANKS!
🙁 tasted awesome. But were incredibly soggy. They couldn’t even be left at room temp for 10 minutes before they thawed and turned mushy. Not like the Magic Bars I used to know and love. I feel like I missed a step or undercooked them? Is this possible?
these were easy and came out great!
These are incredible! I will be making these again for sure. I didn’t use parchment paper, just used a light cooking spray on a glass baking tray. And I cooked them for a full 30 minutes. Absolutely delicious and they set perfectly overnight in the fridge.
These were amazing! They did not last 2 days in our house – I had to hide some in the freezer so my dad and sister wouldn’t fiish them all!
Any suggestion to make this harder? It melts a lot easily. But overall, the taste is outstanding.
I made these for a camping trip last year, everyone loved them (:
I made these and brought them into work. My co-workers went crazy for them. These are the bestest thing ever.
I just made these early this morning…VERY early this morning lol so they would be ready for lunch time… and they are absolutely amazing! Not difficult to make and very cost effective! I picked everything up for them last night and it was about 7.00… thanks so much for sharing this recipe! I will be holding on to it for a while… BTW they were a HUGE hit! no one could believe that they were vegan!
This seems truly divine, however I don’t eat margarine – hydrogenated fat may be perfectly vegan but it’s BAD for you!
What can you suggest as a substitute for margarine?
Malika:
What about Earth Balance? They do not use hydrogenated oils in their vegan spreads. Otherwise, you could experiment with coconut or canola oil, reducing the amount to 1/3 cup.
Wonderful blog! Just one question: I’ve been using this RSS reader application. How do i go about adding your site to it?
These bars are amazing. I have made them twice – once for bookclub and another for a potluck. They are soft, so you need to keep them cool before serving. Also, we froze the last two and pulled them out of the freezer and ate them immediately. So good! The rest of your cookie book is great too. I just made your regular chocolate chip cookie… waiting for them to cool to try ’em.
These look fantastic! I’ll make it tonight!
Why does everyone post before they actually make it. No one cares if you say your gonna make it. Make the dish and then post on your experience. Maybe additions or subtractions?? Just dont say..”cool i cant wait to make that”. Its annoying! Thank you.
I love many of your cookie recipes, but this one just didn’t cut it for me. The crust was too wet. I cooked the coconut milk for a bit more than 10 minutes. Is it supposed to thicken? If so, how much? Should it be a similar consistency to sweetened condensed milk when cooled? We ate them with some pleasure ; chocolate, nuts and coconut is almost always delicious. I was underwhelmed by the results, however, and won’t make them again the same way.
Think I can use coconut oil instead of margarine??? Thanks!!
i made these last night.. they are beyond amazing and i’m totally addicted now! i used earth balance instead of margarine.. pretty much just guessed on the amounts of every layer. i did use two cups of graham crackers, and followed the ingredients for the coconut milk and dark brown sugar though. the pecans on top dont stay put on the bar though.. i wish they did!
ok this one just wasn’t fair, i am on a DIET!!
Good grief these are good! I ate way too many and loved every bite of it.
I was imagining a version of these with coconut milk to complement the already present coconut…and was totally thrilled to find that you’d already done something similar! I used a can of coconut cream rather than coconut milk (slightly thicker, higher fat content), and simmered it gently for about 15 minutes. (Had problems with it boiling over at anything higher than low heat). I made a slurry of 2 Tbsp. cornstarch & 1.5 Tbsp. water & whisked into coconut mixture until thickned, then tossed in some vanilla and mixed in the coconut. To cut the sweetness a bit, I subbed unsweetened coconut for the sweetened stuff. Smeared it all on the crust layer (made sans added sugar, as I used cinnamon graham crumbs), pressed choc. chips & nuts into the surface. The bars held together really well, with no stuff falling off the top. We just sampled them after about an hour in the fridge–almost set. Thank you for the delightful recipe!
Thanks for posting this! I own all your cookbooks, but it’s nice having the info in electronic form. It makes it a lot easier to put the ingredients into MacGourmet so I can get the nutritional info. The Beet Burgers look fantastic. I’m looking forward to getting some beets next week so I can try a batch.
These bars are fabulous!!! I loved them and they were an absolute hit with my extended omni family. Thank you Isa!! I only made two changes to the recipe: I used unsweetened coconut flakes (as this was all I had on hand) and I used cornstarch as recommended by commenter Amy on Dec 4/11 (I was concerned about possible soggy or runny results). As promised, the bars were magical! No sogginess and everything stayed on the bars. This recipe has become my new, foolproof, go-to dessert. When I make these again, I may try adding a bit of extra sugar to compensate for the unsweetened coconut; I don’t feel it’s necessary, but am curious which version I’ll prefer.
These are simply divine, Isa! My dad, who isn’t a fan of coconut, loved them; my mom, who isn’t a huge sweet tooth, loved them; and one of my best friends said that this was her favorite dessert that I’ve made… and I’ve made a lot!
Instead of topping with pecans or walnuts, I used the peanut butter caramel recipe from Veganomicon, and the flavors worked great together.
This recipe is definitely a winner!
I love these bars! My non-vegan husband ADORES them. He says they really are magical!
Could I use almond milk instead of coconut milk?? I just went to the store, and then came back and saw this recipe….xP and I don’t have any coconut milk on hand.
i want to try this with almonds instead of walnuts/pecans. . . i think it would be like almong joy heaven that way!
this recipe is AMAZING! I brought these to a vegan potluck last night. An older gentleman came up to thank me (literally on the verge of tears) because his mom used to make him ‘Hello Dolly’ bars when he was a kid and he thought he’d never eat one again after going vegan. Thank you so much-my cooking gained me lots of fans and attention last night. Now the pressure is on though as I’m not sure how i’ll top these at the next potluck.