Fluffernutter 7-Layer Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups honey graham cracker crumbs about 10 graham crackers’ worth
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup semi or bittersweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup peanut butter chips
- 1/2 cup lightly salted peanuts
- 1 cups mini marshmallows divided use
- 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9×13 inch baking pan. Set aside.
- Melt butter in a small pan. Remove from heat and stir in graham cracker crumbs until thoroughly combined. Press, using the back of a spoon or the bottom of a measuring cup into the bottom of the buttered pan taking care to reach all corners.
- Evenly sprinkle the chocolate chips, then peanut butter chips, peanuts, and half of the marshmallows over the graham cracker layer. Pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the top, and spread with the back of a spoon or spatula until the mixture is evenly coated as needed.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the remaining marshmallows across the top. Return to the oven and bake until edges are golden brown and the bars look “set”. The marshmallows might be alarmingly puffy but they do deflate while cooling.
- Allow to cool on a wire rack completely before slicing. This seems to take forever but resist the urge to cut them when they are even remotely still warm.
- You can refrigerate them before slicing if you are a clean lines fanatic. Store in the refrigerator or on a cool counter in an air-tight container. Freeze leftovers for up to 6 months if desired.
Early recipes for seven-layer bars (or magic bars or Hello Dolly bars, whatever you’d like to call them) have you put the graham cracker crumbs down dry in the pan and drizzle with the butter (or vice versa) to make up the first two layers. Then you stir it together in the pan and press it down. I find it really is easier to just mix it in a bowl first and be done with it.
I’ve been thinking about making seven-layer bars a lot lately and I was trying to think of a new twist. They nearly always have coconut, some kind of a nut, and chocolate chips but I was out of unsweetened coconut (or else it is lost deep in my kitchen) and thought I’d try a different flavor profile. My initial thought was s’mores because s’mores are awesome and already contain two of the main ingredients in seven-layer bars but I couldn’t figure out the other layers. Then it hit me, why not make a riff on another American classic–the fluffernutter? I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever had it in sandwich form but who doesn’t love peanut butter and marshmallow? A local place, Woodberry Kitchen makes a dessert they call CMP (chocolate, marshmallow, peanut) after what, in my research, seems to be a regional sundae. What can I say, peanuts, chocolate, and marshmallow are really delicious combinations.
I loved these! They stay slightly gooey for a long time out of the oven so if you are worried about neat squares, I’d refrigerate them before serving or at the very least allow them to cool much longer than you’d think. I don’t mind the gooeyness but I did need a fork that first day. If you love marshmallows and peanuts or peanut butter you will absolutely love these!
