Coconut Chocolate Bars are an easy-to-make, crowd-pleasing dessert that consists of 5 main ingredients and comes together in less than 10 minutes of prep time!
Also known as Magic Cookie Bars, these bars are made of chocolate, coconut, and sweetened condensed milk. These ingredients come together to create a chewy, gooey bar cookie equipped with a buttery graham cracker crust. It's a flavor combination so delicious that it's magical indeed.
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Magic Cookie Bar Ingredients
These coconut chocolate bars are extremely simple to make and require only a few ingredients. The ingredients for the bars are as follows:
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- Unsweetened Coconut
- Sweetened Condensed Milk | Do not confuse sweetened condensed milk with evaporated milk. After a short stint in the oven, this product offers a sticky-sweet texture and a flavor closely resembling vanilla pudding. However, it is very sweet. Adding a little salt across the top will go a long, long way in enhancing the overall flavor of your chocolate coconut bars.
- Graham Cracker Crumbs | There are nine graham crackers in a package. One package of graham crackers converts into about 1-¼ cup of crumbs. Therefore, seven graham crackers will yield about one cup of crumbs.
- Unsalted Butter
How to Make Coconut Chocolate Bars
Make the Graham Cracker Crust | To make the crust, all you have to do is melt the butter and stir it into the graham cracker crumbs, along with the salt.
- Crust note: The size of your graham cracker crumb will affect the consistency of your crust. The finer the crumb, the tighter the crust. Alternatively, the larger the crumb, the crumblier the crust.
- If you prefer a crust that doesn't crumble, consider running the graham crackers through a food processor (or purchasing graham cracker crumbs) rather than crushing them with a rolling pin or mallet.
Add Sweetened Condensed Milk | Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the graham cracker crumbs and then it's time for the chocolate and the coconut.
Add Chocolate + Coconut | The semi-sweet chocolate chips will go on first, followed by a sprinkle of unsweetened coconut. Once the ingredients are in place, you'll use the tines of a fork to gently nudge the chocolate chips into the layer of sweetened condensed milk.
Bake | The bars go into the oven and bake for 28-30 minutes, just until the coconut is tinging with a gorgeous golden brown across the top.
How to Keep the Bars from Sticking to the Pan
As mentioned earlier, sweetened condensed is heavy on the sugar, which means when it gets hot, it gets sticky. This is part of what makes these chocolate coconut bars so ooey-gooey and addictively delicious: however, if that sweetened condensed milk creeps to the edges of the pan and seeps down along the sides, it could potentially make your bars somewhat difficult to remove from their baking vessel without any breaks.
There are a couple of things you can do to prevent this:
- Don't spread the sweetened condensed milk all the way to the edges of your pan.
- Run a knife along the edges of the pan as soon as it comes out of the oven and before you cut into bars.
- Or line the pan with parchment paper or nonstick aluminum foil before you begin.
Set + Cut | Once the bars are out of the oven, you'll need to give them at least 30 minutes to set up. In fact, it's actually preferable that your chocolate coconut bars are completely cooled before you make your first cut. If you cut into them too soon, the sweetened condensed milk will likely not stay put in bar form.
You can cut the bars into twelve bars or sixteen squares. To make bar shapes, make three evenly spaced cuts going in one direction and four cuts from the opposite direction.
To make squares, make four even cuts across the bars in each direction.
How to Store Coconut Chocolate Bars
Store | Chocolate coconut bars do not need to be refrigerated and can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three to four days.
Freeze | You can keep chocolate coconut bars in the freezer for up to two months. In fact, these bars are just as delicious directly out of the freezer. To freeze them, transfer the cooled bars to an airtight, freezer-safe container, separated by sheets of wax paper to help prevent them from sticking. Once frozen, you can move them to a freezer-safe zip-top, gallon-sized bag to save space if needed. Be sure to remove as much air as possible before sealing.
5 More Chocolatey Desserts to Try!
Chocolate Coconut Bars
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup fine graham cracker crumbs
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt, separated
- 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (not to be confused with evaporated milk)
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ¾ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° and have ready a greased 8"x8" baking dish.
- In a small mixing bowl, stir together graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and a ½ teaspoon salt. Transfer to the baking dish and press firmly across the bottom.
- Pour the can of sweetened condensed milk over the crust and sprinkle a ¼ teaspoon of salt across the top.
- Scatter chocolate chips across the dish, followed by the coconut. Use the tines of a fork to gently press the toppings into the condensed milk.
- Bake for 28-30 minutes, until the coconut is tinging golden-brown across the top. Remove from the oven and run a sharp knife along the edges of the dish.
- Allow to cool completely -- 30 minutes to 1 hour. Cut into 12 bars or 16 squares, serve and enjoy!
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Kate Hackworthy says
Ooh squares of amazingness! All the best things in one bar. They look incredible.
Kelly Anthony says
Ha! Thanks, Kate!
Mary Bostow says
Mmmmmm…love the combo of chocolate and coconut! I can just imagine the delicious texture of these. They look so good!
kim says
I love chocolate bars like this! I'm totally making them for game day!
Edyta says
This looks absolutely Divine! You combined my all time favorite flavors. I can't believe how easy that is!
Natalie says
These bars look absolutely perfect. i really wish for a slice right now. Love coconut and chocolate combo. Must save this recipe and make it soon.
Eden | Sweet Tea and Thyme says
I need to make these ASAP! They look so good, love coconut and chocolate together!
Catherine Brown says
Mmmm, ooey gooey goodness! Coconut and dark chocolate are so fantastic together too. This is the perfect dessert or lunchbox treat! Thanks for sharing.
Denise says
Two of my favorite things! Chocolate and Coconut! These bars look so incredibly good! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Annissa says
What a mouthwatering sweet treat you have here! Chocolate and coconut are great flavor combination!
Mike Hultquist says
These are GREAT, Kelly! They have an excellent sweetness with just the right amount of chocolate and coconut. Keeper for sure!
Mindy Fewless says
I love these bars!! So good and so easy!
Kristina says
These combo is one of the best combinations ever! Love a great chocolaty, gooey bar and this one sure doesn't disappoint!
Jamie says
Wow this looks so decadent! I love chocolate with coconut together, one of my favorite combos!
Jenna @ SipBiteGo.com says
When I think of comfort food treats, this tops my list! I am making these for the long weekend coming up!!
Eden | Sweet Tea and Thyme says
So easy and SO perfect for the kiddos! My son loves these, I can't wait to make them with him again during the summer break.
SoCalGourmetCook says
The best recipe ever, if you love chocolate and coconut. I used Ghirardelli chocolate, which took the taste to the next level. I had all the ingredients in my pantry and it only took 10 min. to make! A great bar to take to special events. Everyone loved them. Thank you Anthony Kitchen for a great, easy recipe!
Kelly Anthony says
So glad you enjoyed them!
debbie e burton says
just made these and they look super delicious I did not have enough crumbs so i used crushed cornflakes to make up the cup and half and it turned out fine!!
Kelly Anthony says
It probably added some nice texture as well! Great thinking! Glad you enjoyed them, Debbie 🙂
Ben says
Chicka, chicka pow! That looks amazing. Nothing is better than chocolate and coconut.
Shelley says
Thank you so much for this recipe! Magic Bars really are always such a guaranteed, HUGE hit - but you're right that they're just so, so sweet. I love that you figured out how to update them for "modern" palates! Still ooey-gooey-wonderful, but not quite so cloyingly sweet. Brilliant!
Veena Azmanov says
Sounds delicious and chewy and a delicious snack box option.
Paige says
Im salivating looking at this! I've never made these before but I love all these flavors so I'm going to give it a try...the golden coconut edges sold me 🙂
Tammy says
Oh my word!!! These look divine! 😀 What a fabulous treat to kick off the weekend...definitely pinning these to try soon!
Kay says
Well, you won over my fussy daughter with this recipe, that is not an easy task!! Delicious thank you so much!
GUNJAN C Dudani says
Nothing beats chocolate. I love coconut and have a tendency to infuse it into recipes. So this one suits my palate perfectly.
Aline says
Made these this morning and, well, they're already gone ahaha SO GOOD!!! Need to make more ASAP!!
Jo says
Chocolate + coconut!! Nothing can beat that! How delicious are those bars! I don't have sweet tooth but looking at those bars made me crave for it. Can't wait to try it soon
Jennifer Banz says
These chocolate coconut bars were so good and not too sweet!
Anne-Marie McMahon says
WAY too sweet. My entire family got headaches after eating these. The addition of the salt does not compensate for the fact that a can of sweetened condensed milk and lots of chocolate chips are still concentrated in one 8x8" dish. This might be improved with only half a can of the milk, or a substitution of something much less sweet - like whipped cream cheese.
Ellen says
Loved this recipe! Thanks for sharing. I think I prefer these to the 7 later bars I usually make. I only used 3/4 of the can of sweetened condensed milk.... it helped to cut back on the sweetness a bit. 🙂
Katalin says
Question please! Attempting this for Easter : is the 2TBP butter for greasing the pan or for the crust (in addition to the 1.5 cups butter)
Thanks sooo much!
Katalin
Kelly Anthony says
For the crust 🙂
Katalin says
Yay thanks so much doing it now !
Kelly Anthony says
Enjoy! You're welcome 🙂
Lori Lichterman says
If using reynolds nonstick aluminum foil as a way to prevent sticking, this eliminates a need for greasing. Will it affect the crust texture/flavor negatively?
Kelly Anthony says
No, not at all 🙂
Martha says
Can I use regular salt
Kelly Anthony says
Yes, just cut the quantity in half since regular table salt has a sharper flavor profile 🙂