Foods Grain-free Magic Cookie Bars that are sugar-free and dairy-free too? You bet!
This is one of my all time favorite family treats– you know, the ones that really invite you down memory lane? That is what Magic Cookie Bars are to me. Making these with my mother are some of my fondest and earliest memories. Eating most of the pan, that’s a memory of mine too! Dad, Brother and I all fighting to lick the last crumbs out of the pan, yep, we did that.
We loved those cherished magic cookie bars treats and I was so sad when I thought I could never have them again. I mean, how can you make these dairy free and sugar free without sweetened condensed milk? Seriously, not an easy task! I won’t pretend that it was easy, either. It took some time, but it can be done. And the end results are well worth it.
I decided to give this a whirl by first looking for some helpful blog posts. However, even the ones I found were not sugar-free. I had to tweak it myself and get the desired result.
Some of you know that I am a huge fan of Trim Healthy Mama and a contributing blogger to their wonderful Ezine magazine, when I can. Well, I thought I’d bless the ladies of Trim Healthy Mama with this recipe.
Now if you are not needing to be sugar free, you don’t care about dairy, you don’t have the time and you’re not a Trim Healthy Mama. Then by all means use the regular ol’ sweetened condensed milk if you’d like. I promise, I won’t be there to police you. 😉
Day 13: Magic Cookie Bars
Grain-Free and Sugar-Free Magic Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups almond meal
- 1/2 cup butter dairy-free options: 1/2 cup nut butter or coconut oil
- 8 to 14 oz*. of sweetened condensed milk
- 1 1/3 cup coconut flakes finely shredded, no sugar added
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1 2/3 cups chocolate chips dairy free, soy free, sugar free and homemade chips work well
Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk: Sugar-free and Dairy-free
- 27 oz coconut milk 2 13.5-oz cans
- 4 tablespoons Truvia or equivalent sweetener
Instructions
- Make the sweetened condensed milk:
- Place the coconut milk and Truvia in a small pan and bring to a light boil.
- Reduce heat to maintain a steady simmer for approximately 4 hours. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.
- It is done when reduced by about half, and thick in consistency like store-bought sweetened condensed milk.
- Make the bars:
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a food processor or with a fork, combine almond meal with butter.
- Press the almond meal mixture in a well greased 9 x 13 " Pyrex dish.
- Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the top of the almond mixture.
- Spread the coconut and chocolate chips evenly over the sweetened condensed milk.
- Press down evenly with a fork.
- **Alternatively, you can add half of the sweetened condensed milk, then the coconut and chocolate chips, with the second half of the sweetened condensed milk on the top of those.
- Either way works nicely.
- Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes, or until bubbly and brown.
- Cool well.
- You may even refrigerate overnight.
- Slice, serve and enjoy!
Notes
Options for homemade sugar-free condensed milk:
Cream and butter option
Dairy-free option
(Make sure you pay attention to the notes in the recipe found at the bottom)
These are so delightful. I am tasting bits of heaven here on earth now that I can have my Magic Cookie Bars again. Thank you Lord!
If you are following the Trim Healthy Mama plan, these are every bit an S. I would choose to have a Fuel Pull dinner just so I could eat a couple of these. I might even be known to have some eggs and a couple of these on the side for breakfast, just maybe.
Enjoy these Magic Cookie Bars soon!
What are some of your favorite treats that bring you the fondest of memories? Have you found a way to tweak them? If not, let us know how we might be able to help you!
25 Days of Grain-Free Christmas Cookies
Christmas and cookies go hand-in-hand, but most traditional cookie recipes use wheat flour and other grains. If you are grain-free, or you are looking to cut back on the grains you eat, this cookbook gives you 25 amazing cookie recipes to continue to fill your home with the pleasant traditional tastes and aromas.
Of course, you can use these cookie recipes year round! Your family is going to love having these healthy, delicious alternatives.
Grab your copy now!
More Cookie Recipes:
- Old-Fashioned Molasses Cookies
- Grain-Free Mom’s Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
- Grain-Free Peppermint Chocolate Cookies
- Grain-Free Christmas Cheer Cookies
Will I be able to easily remove from the pan to bring to a gathering on another tray, or should I get a pan that I can serve in to prepare? (Making to bring to MIL house Christmas gathering to have a yummy gluten free desert that I can eat!)
Please forgive me for the delayed reply Tanya! I think you can do it either way. The only concern I would have is that they may slip off a tray, so wrap them tightly in some kind of wrap 🙂 It will also depend on what kind of crust you make. Using almond butter or another nut butter will keep them a little more together… or pressing them with a fork before baking will help keep them together. It is really up to you! What I would do is have them laid out in a tray not too stacked, but they should be somewhat stackable. I like it a little fancy that is the only reason why! Lol. If you could care less about fancy. Make them in a pyrex and serve from there. Hope you all love them! ~ Amanda
I can’t have nuts, but these sound heavenly. Can there be any substitutions for the almond meal, and if so, what do you suggest?
Great question Laurie! Can you do flax and chia? If so, can you also do butter? I think that flax, chia and butter would be the best crust nut free crust! I may have to work on a nut free version for you. 🙂 ~ Amanda
Thank you Amanda, for getting back to me! I have not tried chia or flax so that might be possible, but I cannot do dairy so the butter is not an option. I usually try to use coconut spread as a replacement in baking, and in some cases where that doesn’t work, I’ve found I can handle Fleischman’s margarine, although I know it’s totally not healthy at all so I use it very sparingly. 😉 I can do gluten free grains except for quinoa if that helps. Thank you so much for looking into other possibilities for me!
You are very welcome Laurie 🙂
Uh, these look amazing and I’d like to make them for a Super Bowl party I am attending. Do you have a recipe for homemade, THM approved chocolate chips? Or if you use store bought, what kind do you get? I am just getting started in THM and not aware of all the on plan, pre-made options although I am all for making my own of anything and everything I can.
Thanks!
Bek, there is a brand called Enjoy Life that has soy free, dairy free, sugar free chocolate chips. You can also use any bar like Lily’s organic that is 85% cocoa and sweetened with stevia. Those are the easiest options. You could also use a variation if the chocolate but slab in THM, but leave out the nuts. Thanks for the great question and enjoy the party! ~Amanda
I am baking these as I type this.. My crust did not come out at all like I had thought it would. It was the consistency of fluffy frosting, rather than what I thought was going to be like a graham cracker crust so to speak. Is that correct? I didn’t need to press it into the 13×9″ pan because it was so fluffy. I just had to spread it. I’m hoping they come out great!
Mary Jo, That is very odd indeed. I have no idea how or why that could have happened. It is ever so much like a graham cracker crust. I have not heard of this happening to anyone who has made them yet. How did they end up coming out? I would have still pressed them down just because. What did you end up doing? Thanks! ~ Amanda
Is it ok to use almond flour for the crust? And what happens if the coconut milk doesn’t get reduced all the way? In my first batch, I cooked it too long and it started separating. Trying another batch, but am afraid to cook it that long 🙂
Betty Lou, no need to throw that previous coconut milk away! Just stir it thoroughly before using. It will separate a bit during cooking.
And yes you may use almond flour. It is the same as almond meal
What are the orange flecks in the photo? Looks like carrot?
Marge, I believe the orange flecks you are seeing are the coconut flakes just lightly browned from baking 😉
Was this intended to be done in a 9X9 pan or a 9X13 pan, Metal or Glass?
Great question! I will update the recipe to show it. I use a 9X13 glass dish.
Hi there! These look AMAZING!! What could I sub for the coconut? We are a coconut-free household and I’m always at a loss for what to replace it with. Any Suggestions?
Thanks in advance!!
Nothing is going to give you quite the same flavor and texture as the coconut, but you could probably try doing more chopped nuts in place of the coconut. I’m sure they’d still be yummy 🙂
Can I sub Baking Blend for the almond meal? These look fabulous!!
I’ve not tried that, but you certainly could try.