Happy New Year!!!!!!  Did everyone have a good time??  How’d you all celebrate?   I hope everyone had a great Christmas and first day of 2016!  Mine was very pleasant, and I enjoyed being around the fam and eating a lot.  The tot and I hung out all morning watching Mickey Mouse cartoons and the Rose Parade while Daddy caught up on sleep.   Now on with the reducing of carbs and getting back into my 6-days-a-week exercising routine….I haven’t done that in, like, 3 years!!

But anyway, I got lots of goals to reach this year: participate in a 10K or a half marathon, read more books, sleep more (if the tot allows me!), and blog more!  Yes, I’m gonna bust my booty and share more recipes, more pictures, and improve the site a bit, as well as sign up on a couple other sites that’ll give The Sweet Obsessions more exposure.  Oh so much to do, but I’m excited!!!

I got to share with you all my most favorite sweet treat that I made for Christmas.  My mom used to make these magic cookie bars a lot around the holidays, and I love them for the fact that an entire bag of chocolate chips is poured on top of the graham cracker crust for me to pick at before she topped off with the nuts and coconut.  Once the sweetened condensed milk got poured over top and baked through, they became my most favorite cookie bar ever.

I’m not a coconut fan.  Coconut reminds me of eating flavored shredded paper.  I think the reason why I can tolerate the coconut in this recipe is because of the sweetened condensed milk.  The sweetness and somewhat thick consistency of it kinda takes away from that shredded paper taste.  It acts like a glue so all the ingredients can stick together once baked, cooled, cut up, and then refrigerated for storage.  The walnuts are minced up nicely to where I can easily tolerate them too.  I also used the holiday chocolate morsels to add some festive color to the cookie bars.  So perfect and tasty…and addicting!!

So thank you sweetened condensed milk for allowing me to eat coconut without having to make a funny face and throw them out!  Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

So until next time, happy baking!!

MAGIC COOKIE BARS

2 cups graham crackers (1 1/2 packs), finely crushed

1/2 – 3/4 cup melted margarine (1 + 4 tablespoons)

1 package of semi-sweet chocolate chips, or the special holiday chips by Nestlé

2/3 cup flaked coconut

1/2 cup minced walnuts (or any other kind of nut would do)

14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk

• Preheat oven to 350-degrees

• Crush the graham crackers in either a food processor, or place in a zip-lock bag and crush with a rolling pin.  Pour crushed graham crackers into a 13×9-inch baking pan.

• Melt the margarine in a microwave-safe cup or small bowl and pour over top the graham cracker crumbs.  Stir to distribute margarine evenly throughout, and then press gently to the bottom of the pan.

• Pour the chocolate chips evenly over top of the crumb crust, then the coconut and nuts.  Evenly pour the sweetened condensed milk over top all the ingredients.

• Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool completely before cutting into squares.  To cool faster, stick it in the refrigerator for about an hour and then cut.  To store, place waxed paper in between each layer of squares in an airtight container and freeze up to 3-4 months.