7 Layer Cookies
7 Layer Cookies
Equipment
- Ceramic Baking Dish
- Oven
Ingredients
- 140 Grams Salted Butter (About ½ Cup)
- 127 Grams Graham Cracker Crumbs (1 ½ Cups)
- 310 Grams Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (1 Package)
- 100 Grams Shredded Coconut (1 Cup)
- 310 Grams Butterscotch Chips (1 Package)
- 125 Grams Chopped Walnuts (1 Cup)
- 395 Grams Sweetened Condensed Milk (1 Can)
Instructions
- Lightly oil the sides and bottom of a 20 x 30cm (13”x9”) ceramic baking dish with canola oil.
- Line the ceramic baking dish with parchment paper, covering the bottom and the sides. Set aside and prepare your other ingredients.
- Per-heat the over at 170c (350f).
- Double boil the butter until it’s all melted. Use low heat and be careful not to burn the butter.
- Pour the butter into the ceramic baking dish. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs over butter. It will soak up the hot butter and mix to become a solid foundation.
- Build the cookie layers in this order; chocolate chips, coconut flakes, butterscotch chips, and walnuts.
- Once all those ingredients have been added, press down gently to help the layers fuse together.
- Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over everything.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes.
- Rotate 180 degrees and bake for another 10 minutes.
- Uncovered to and cook another 15 minutes to make it golden brown.
- Let cool for 2 hours at room temperature before removing from the ceramic baking dish. Once it has cooled, cut into bars.
7 Layer Cookies:The Cookie That Defines Christmas
Every family makes different cookies during the holiday, but for me, these cookies are Christmas. I still remember my mother pulling out all the baking stuff to start the holiday prep. She would only make these 7 Layer Cookies once a year, so they really did become a seasonal treat. They were so popular that my mom had to hide them from us, less there wouldn’t be any left for the actual Christmas day. They were always the first cookie I would reach for off the cookie plate, and they were always the first cookie to run out.
I carry on with the same tradition. I only make these for Christmas, there is only one tray of them, and they are the first to be eaten. It just wouldn’t be Christmas without them!
On a side note, I’ve always been baffled by the name of these cookies, as for me, there are only 6 layers.
Ordering Your 7 Layer Cookies Correctly
When I first start making these cookies on my own I found that they didn’t turn out right. It seemed that no matter what I did or how long I cooked them, the cookie would not stay together. They would crumble into a mess. It was a delicious mess, but none the less they weren’t coming out right.
I was doing one major thing wrong; the order in which I added the ingredients. It might seem trivial. I foolishly believed that as long as there are graham crackers and butter on the bottom the rest of the cookie would just work. There is something about the right order that locks everything into place and makes the final cookie a cohesive bar. So make sure you follow the directions as written.
The other thing; additions, subtractions, and/or substitutions don’t work. Believe me, I’ve tried a bunch of different things, like swapping out butterscotch chips for peanut butter chips, and it always turns out subpar. These 7 ingredients work together to create something magical. It is nothing short of alchemy. This is a perfect formula. Don’t mess with it, unless you’re ready for disappointment.
Sourcing Your Ingredients
Everything is super easy to find, unless you’re in Japan. You will not be able to get graham cracker crumbs. The best you do is full graham crackers. You will have to turn them into crumbs on your own. Easily done with a food processor. If you don’t have one of those, just use your fists. Whatever gets the job done. Here’s a link to what we use.
The other thing that’s a little tricky to source in Japan is butterscotch chips. Unfortunately this is a little more problematic. It’s not that they are impossible to find, just that they are prohibitively expensive. At the moment, this is the absolute best deal we can find. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and bite the bullet.
You can also check out Desert Cart, but they can’t match this price per gram.
Beyond that, we do recommend using a scale to portion out the ingredients. You can use a measuring cup, but it’s really difficult to accurately measure this way. Baking is about precision. Besides, a digital scale is pretty cheap.
Looking for Other Cookies???
We have some other Christmas cookies you might like to try…
Get your Christmas spirit in top gear with an entire album of Weezer. I know, I’m surprised too.