If you love magic bars, these caramel gluten free magic bars are going to be a treat for you! These creamy, gooey magic bars have a gluten free graham cracker crust and lots of layers of yumminess. I also include a dairy-free version!
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Don't these gluten free magic bars look good! You may recognize these as 7 Layer Bars, but many call them magic bars too. If sweet desserts are your thing, grab a pan because you will want to eat these gluten free bars!
We are crazy for cookies in the Fearless Dining household. If you are a gluten free cookie fanatic too, please check out all of my delicious gluten free cookie recipes.
Why These Bars Are Great:
- This recipe yields gooey magic cookie bars. Your family will love them!
- They are made with simple, easy-to-find ingredients.
- This recipe is easy to customize with different nuts and types of chocolate and mix-ins.
- There is a dairy-free option! If you are looking for gluten free dairy-free magic bars, you will love using these simple recipe substitutions (see the FAQ below for specific product recommendations to make them dairy-free.)
If you love chocolate and coconut, try my easy Gluten Free Coconut Macaroons recipe too!
Ingredient Notes:
- Gluten Free Graham Crackers - I love to use Pamela's Honey Graham's best as they crumble better than some of the other brands.
- Condensed Milk - Use the regular dairy version, or for dairy-free, use coconut condensed milk.
- Chocolate Chips - Use any flavor you like. I love using dark chocolate and bittersweet to offset some of the sweetness.
- Shredded Coconut - Make sure to use unsweetened. Shredded coconut comes in many sizes of shreds. Any will work fine, but the super fine may not have the same texture.
Are you ready to give this easy magic bars recipe a try?
How To Make Gluten Free Magic Bars:
Step 1: Add your gluten free graham crackers to a large plastic Ziplock bag. Use a rolling pin or food processor to crush the crackers into little crumbs. You can also buy gluten free graham cracker crumbs.
Step 2: Place the graham cracker crumbs in a large mixing bowl and add melted butter. Use a large spoon to mix the ingredients together.
Step 3: Dump the graham cracker crumbs mixture into a prepared greased 8x8 pan and spread them out evenly with a spoon to cover the bottom. I use a coconut oil spray to grease my pan. You can also use parchment paper to line the bottom of the pan.
Use the back of the spoon or flat bottom glass to press the crumb mixture down flat. Try to get it really compacted down so that your magic bar crust is solid and can support the layers on top.
Step 4: Next, add your condensed milk layer. You can use either regular condensed milk or dairy-free condensed milk made from coconut. Both have the same level of sweetness.
Step 5: Add a layer of caramel chips or Kraft Caramel Bits. You will love the flavor that the caramel adds!
Step 6: Sprinkle the shredded coconut over the caramel chips. Use a large spoon to spread the shredded coconut layer. If you love coconut as much as we do, you should check out these Gluten Free Almond Joy Cookie Bars!!
Step 7: Add lots of chocolate chips or chocolate chunks!
Step 8: Add sliced almonds, chopped pecans, or another nut type that you love. Feel free to substitute walnuts, pecans, or any other type of nuts you like!
Step 9: Bake the gluten free magic bars at 350º F for 25 minutes. You will notice the top gets a slight golden color when they are finished baking.
Allow these cookie bars to completely cool before cutting. Use caution when taking them out of the oven, they are HOT. These will be very soft when they are hot, they will firm up as they cool.
Tips and Recipe FAQ:
These magic bars freeze really well. In fact, I recommend freezing them to help the gooey ingredients mesh together. It also makes cutting them a LOT easier!
Yes, condensed milk is gluten free. As always, you want to read the label in case a manufacturer changes its ingredients.
This recipe works really well with both regular condensed milk and dairy-free coconut condensed milk. I chose to use coconut condensed milk because I am a coconut fanatic.
If you want these bars to be dairy-free too, use the coconut condensed milk I mention above and use Enjoy Life dairy-free chips (skip the caramel chips) and use a dairy-free butter!
You can use any type of chocolate chip for this recipe. Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or bittersweet chocolate chips all taste delicious so use the one you like best! (I will say Ghirardelli is very good for chips that are gluten free. If you want dairy-free chocolate chips, Enjoy Life makes great chips!)
These magic bars will keep up to 5 days in the refrigerator. I also love to freeze them. To freeze, add them to a freezer-safe zip-style bag. Lay them single file and freeze flat.
More Gluten Free Cookie Bars Recipes:
Recipe
Gluten Free Magic Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups crushed gluten free graham crackers * see note
- 6 tablesoons butter
- 1 can condensed milk * see note
- ½ cup chocolate chips
- ½ cup caramel chips
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- ½ cup slivered almonds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º F. Put graham crackers in a bag and smash to crumbs.
- Add the crumbs to a bowl and mix with melted butter.
- Pour into an 8x8 greased baking dish.
- Pour in the crumb mixture.
- Pour ¾ of a can of condensed milk on top and spread to cover the crumbs.
- Add chips and coconut.
- Drizzle remaining condensed milk on top of coconut. Add almonds.
- Bake for 22 minutes until done.
- Cool completely before cutting.
Video
Notes
- I like to use gluten free Pamala's Honey Grahams best because they crumble really well. You can also buy gluten free graham cracker crumbs.
- To make this recipe dairy-free, use vegan butter, coconut condensed milk, and dairy-free chocolate chips by Enjoy Life.
- These gluten free magic bars will keep up to 4 days in the refrigerator.
- You can freeze these bars in zip-style freezer bags. Make sure to freeze single file and lay the bag flat until the bars are frozen.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
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(*This blog post was updated from an older 7/2017 post with more information and a video.)
Cathy B
These bars are AWESOME! We made them for a family gathering and one person has celiac disease. EVERYONE loved them and we got lots of requests for the recipe. (I shared your site with them). Very easy to make. Since one person is allergic to almonds, we supplemented finely chopped pecans -- they were also great! Question - I've never seen recipes with 4/5 or 2/5 or 1/5 -- ?? We changed the 5 to a 4 and it worked fine. Just curious why the fifths??
Thanks for sharing this!! We will definitely make these again!
jenna
I've never heard of these but they look absolutely delicious 🙂 I'll have to check out the dairy-free coconut condensed milk! I've never tried baking with it. YUM!!!
Carolyn Ingram
These look delicious!
Sandi Gaertner
Thank you so much for your kind note Carolyn. I hope you enjoy these 🙂