posted by Archana on Baking, Chocolate, Dessert

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Besides perusing cookbooks, perusing food blogs is one of my favorite ways to hunt for new recipes. I’ve been a fan of Smitten Kitchen for a while now, but somehow, I had never got around to putting one of her recipes to good use.

While my boyfriend was away for about two weeks, I had the apartment to myself to experiment with a bunch of goodies, including one of her dessert recipes for Hello Dolly bars, a traditional southern dessert, which is fitting because Smitten adapted her recipe from the blog Homesick Texan.

I love how easy and quick this dessert is to make. It’s super indulgent and maybe too sweet for some, but methinks these will be a mainstay at our apartment come winter time. And I think after trying these, you guys will agree with me that butterscotch is a totally underrated ingredient!

Hello Dolly Bars (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

What to get:

• ½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, cut into large pieces
• 1½ cups graham crackers crumbs (you can buy storebought crumbs like me, or pulse about 8 graham crackers in a food processor)
• 1½ cups chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk (just under half a small can)

What to do:

1.) Preheat oven to 350ºF. Melt butter in microwave in heatproof bowl until just melted when stirred. Add graham cracker crumbs. Mix and then press evenly into the bottom of 8×8 baking pan.

2.) Layer coconut, pecans, butterscotch and chocolate chips on top of graham cracker base. Pour sweetened condensed milk over whole mixture.

4.) Bake in oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top is light brown.

5.) After cooling, cut into squares. Because of the high level of sweetness, portioning into small squares will work for most people. Unless you’re like me, and can polish off a huge square with a tall glass of milk.