Toasted Coconut Magic Cookie Bars (Vegan)

Magic bars are a classic that everyone enjoys and these just got an upgrade!

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 12 - 24 bars

Ingredients

Cookie Dough:

2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons almond butter or cashew butter
1/4 cup almond milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unbleached flour
1 cup graham cracker or vanilla cookie crumbs finely ground *see note (I used graham crackers from this recipe

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1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed coconut milk
150 g about 1 cup dairy free semi-sweet chocolate,chopped
1 cup unsweetened coconut shreds I used fresh but dried coconut works perfectly
1 cup pecans chopped

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F (180 C) and grease a 13x9 inch pan. Spread coconut out on a baking sheet and place in oven to toast. Stir every 2-3 minutes until evenly golden.
In a medium mixing bowl, beat coconut oil, nut butter, almond milk, and brown sugar together until creamed. Add, baking powder, salt, vanilla, and cinnamon and beat until mixed. Add the flour and graham crumbs and beat until well combined.
Press dough into pan as evenly as you can. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes until edges start to turn golden brown. Remove from oven and cool for about 5 minutes then pour sweetened condensed milk over top and gently spread. Top with chocolate, then nuts, then toasted coconut.
Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until the filling is bubbling and caramelizing. Remove from oven and allow the bars to cool for about 20 minutes before cutting.

Recipe Notes

*If you are vegan and prefer to not make your own graham crackers you can replace the crumbs in this recipe with a number of lightly sweet cookies or crackers from the store. I think Nabisco makes grahams without honey but Speculoos and Biscoff Speculoos cookies, animal crackers, cinnamon teddy grahams, and Girl Scout's Thanks-a-lots are all vegan. Double check to make sure though.