Magic Cookie Bars were one of my favorite childhood treats. They were so easy and a perfect dessert for a kid trying to flex her newfound baking muscles. My father called them Hello Dollies, and he adored them. And I could never say no to that buttery graham cracker crust topped with chocolate, nuts, and gooey caramelized condensed milk.
When I went low carb for health concerns, I knew I had to find a way to make sugar-free condensed milk. And once I had mastered that delicious baking ingredient, the next logical step was to make Keto Magic Cookie Bars.
You will be delighted to know that these are just as easy (and just as delicious!) as the high carb version. My keto pie crust makes an excellent substitute for the base. And the topping is just as gooey, sweet, and chockfull of mix-ins as the original.
Whether you call them 7 Layer Bars, Hello Dollies, or Magic Cookie Bars, you’re sure to love this low-carb, gluten-free treat.
The condensed milk is useful in many other wonderful recipes, from Keto Key Lime Pie to Sugar-Free White Chocolate Fudge.
Reader’s Thoughts
“I’ve made these bars so many times and they always turn out great! Helps my blood sugar numbers and satisfies my sweet tooth. thank you!” — Dana
Why makes this recipe special
- Easier condensed milk – this latest version comes together in 30 minutes with a handful of ingredients. And it stores nicely in the fridge for up to 2 weeks!
- Gluten-free crust: Almond flour and other nut meals make a crisp, satisfying base.
- Keto friendly toppings: Some chopped nuts and shredded coconut, along with keto chocolate chips, give these bars the classic look and taste.
- Balanced sweetness: These keto magic cookie bars are less cloying than the original, so the nuts and chocolate shine through.
Ingredient Notes
- Almond flour: Almond flour works best for this crust, for both texture and flavor. Other nut and seed flours will work but may be a bit more crumbly.
- Sweetener: The crust is best made with an erythritol based sweetener, as allulose will make it too soft.
- Butter: For the shortbread crust, nothing beats the flavor and texture that butter offers.
- Salt: A little salt balances with the sweetness in these bars.
- Sugar-free chocolate chips: Your favorite brand should work fine. I used Lily’s.
- Sugar-free peanut butter chips: No one seems to be making the butterscotch chips anymore, so I switched to keto peanut butter chips. You can also simply do more chocolate chips. Lily’s salted caramel chips would be delicious too!
- Coconut: Use unsweetened shredded coconut.
- Nuts: You can use chopped pecans or walnuts.
- Sugar free condensed milk: You will need to make this prior to making the bars.
Overview: How to Make This Recipe
- Make the crust: Combine the dry ingredients, then mix in the melted butter until the mixture clumps together.
- Bake the crust: Press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan and bake until the edges start to brown. Remove and cool.
- Assemble the bars: Sprinkle chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, coconut, and nuts over the cooled crust. Pour sweetened condensed milk on top and bake until mixture is bubbly and beginning to brown.
- Cool. Let the bars cool in pan and cut into pieces.
Tips for Success
I recommend using metal pans for this recipe, as it will help the crust firm up properly. Make sure you let it cool completely before adding the toppings.
Keep in mind that erythritol based sweeteners, with no allulose, are the only ones that will produce a crisp crust.
You can also use a 9×9 inch pan, but the bars will cook through faster so keep your eye on them.
Frequently Asked Questions
You don’t purchase keto condensed milk, you make it! But don’t worry, it’s very simple to do and results in a spectacular low carb baking ingredient. I’ve found that I can keep it in the fridge for 10 to 14 days without spoilage. It’s a great way to use up heavy cream that is about to expire.
This keto magic cookie bar recipe has 6.5g of carbs and 3.4g of fiber per serving. That comes to 3.1g net carbs per bar.
Store the bars in a covered container on the counter for up to 4 days or in the fridge for up to a week. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months.
More keto dessert bars to try
Keto Magic Cookie Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 1/2 cup (165 g) almond flour
- 1/4 cup (45.5 g) granular sweetener, erythritol-based
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup (56.75 g) butter, melted
Filling:
- 1/4 cup (59.15 g) sugar-free chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup (42.5 g) sugar-free peanut butter chips, (or more chocolate chips)
- 1/2 cup (42.5 g) unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup (54.5 g) chopped pecans or walnuts
- 1 recipe keto condensed milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325ºF and lightly grease an 8×8 inch metal baking pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, and salt in the . Add melted butter and mix in until mixture begins to clump together. Press firmly and evenly into the bottom of the pan.
- Bake the crust for 10 minutes, or until just beginning to brown around the edges. Remove and let cool completely.
- Increase the oven temperature to 350ºF.
- Sprinkle the cooled crust with the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, coconut and nuts.
- Pour the condensed milk evenly over top and bake 20 to 25 minutes, until the mixture is bubbly and beginning to brown.
- Remove and let cool in pan before cutting into bars.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
My 4 year old son was diagnosed as Type 1 Diabetic, and as having Celiac Disease, in one fell swoop last month. It has been wholly overwhelming to integrate the dietary changes necessary to keep him healthy, and trying to make him happy in the process has been incredibly difficult. I am SO thankful I was led to your blog.
I have found so many GF bloggers and cookbooks have very little in the way of labeling the carbohydrate count in their recipes, which makes it a huuuuge pain in the ass for me. I am already beating my head trying to learn to be organized, to plan meals, to count every bite- your blog is such a wonderful resource for me. I can’t wait to make these for him. I am sure they will bring a smile to his face <3 THANK YOU!!!!! <3
Oh you poor things, you and your son. What a month it must have been for you. I don’t have experience with Type 1 personally, of course, but I know it’s so hard because there is so much planning needed. It’s easier when not reliant on insulin. Have you heard of A Sweet Life Diabetes magazine? They are a wonderful online resource for diabetes. In terms of planning, the best thing I can say it to make a whole lot of low carb, gluten-free muffins and have them in the freezer, on hand for a quick snack. Most of my muffin recipes are under 5g of carbs so they shouldn’t have too much affect on your son’s glucose levels. Good luck to you both!
just by the looks of these, you’d never know they were low carb and gluten-free!
CAROLYN! Seriously. I’ve been dreaming of this very thing for a year now. You are a genius. I made these bars yesterday and they lived up to my very high expectations! They are SO good. I mean, like, I-ate-4-bars-in-4-hours yesterday, good. I would have eaten more, but I restrained myself. 🙂 I’ve posted on Pinterest and Facebook about them with a link back to here.
I love your blog – your recipes are ALWAYS good and your writing is great.
Thanks for doing what you do- it works!
-Lindsay
Thanks so much for your kind words!
oh, yumm…made these yesterday and you are so right, gotta heart you!
And for those fabulous gingerbread scones last week.
Now patiently waiting for the other ‘milk’ recipes.
These bars look fantastic and I love that you took the time to make your own low carb sweetened condensed milk! I remember seeing Shannon’s recipe for sweetened condensed milk quite a while back and was so impressed then too 🙂 I’m featuring this post in today’s Food Fetish Friday (with a link-back and attribution as always). Thanks for continuing to inspire me with your creations…
Oh my goodness. I’m sure I’m not the only one who considers these bars to be “crack”. Lovin’ this healthier version!
Oh dear oh dear. You are saving the world. Genius.
Should you stir the milk mixture for 11/2 hours? I’m not sure I can do that. How frequent should I ? Scrape bottom or no?
Hi Barbara. Yup, you really have to boil it down. I stirred every 10 minutes or so (set my kitchen timer). And I scraped the bottom but not the sides. As long as you keep the heat low enough, it shouldn’t get too clumpy.
This part puzzles me. Don’t scrape the sides or “you will get chunky bits in your condensed milk.” So you NEVER reincorporate the milk that sticks to the sides or only do it as a part of the penultimate whisk in butter and xantham gum step? Seems to be that the bits on the bottom would be more problematic than bits on the sides.
Don’t whisk it in. The clumps are unavoidable when you boil something that long but you don’t want them in your milk
One day, when we meet in person, can you sort of kind of put these in your bag and share them with me?! Yeah, that would be perfect.
Oh, be still my heart. They look incredible!
How much stevia powder is equal to 15 drops?
Thanks for many scrumptious recipes.
I’d say about 1/8 tsp of powder. I am not sure how well that will mix into the condensed milk but give a go and see!
Thanks!
These look sensational, will make my own condensed milk tonight. Is the choc amount 3.5 oz or 13.5 oz?
That reads as one 3.5 oz chocolate bar. I hate the way it comes out on Ziplist like that!
Thanks. Is the almond flour 1 3/4 cups or just 3/4 cup?
That one is actually one and one-quarter. I have to find a better way of doing that! Sorry.
Your answer to Rebekah was 1 1/4 Almond flour but the recipe still says 1 3/4. Did you mean the latter? Thanks.
I had tried the other recipe (from Simply…) with the coconut milk and we did not like that. Looking forward to this version next week. It will likely be appealing to us since we do not have to be dairy free and I have never liked coconut milk. The coconut milk and coconut adds on the carbs too.
The latter, yes! 1 and 3/4. I don’t know the other recipe, but I’ve heard people make it with coconut milk and like it. I like coconut milk well enough, but when it comes to sweetened condensed milk, I want the real thing!
Love your site. I have not tried any of your recipes until this one… but I have a question… Why have you not corrected the recipe? I printed the Magic Cookie Bar recipe out and when I went to the kitchen to begin making these I found myself scratching my head when I read the amounts. They seemed off, so I pulled up your webpage and started reading these comments, only to find that the amounts are wrong in the recipe. Will you be correcting the recipe so it appears correctly on this page and on the printed page? This would be helpful to your readers. Thanks!
I am sorry, I don’t know what you mean. The amounts in the recipe are correct…in a comment to one person who didn’t understand whether it was 3/4 cup or 1 and 3/4 cup, I made an error in my comment. But not in the recipe. The numbers in ziplist can be very close together and there’s not much I can do about that. But several other people have made these bars without any problems whatsoever. The recipe is correct. Thanks.
Would putting 1.75 cups work…the “.75” for the “3/4”?? could also do .25 for 1/4, .50 for 1/2??
or 1 cup + 3/4 cup?? (to show “separation”)
Actually…my comment should have said use .5 for 1/2….1.5 cups looks right but 1.50 doesn’t…lol
I just don’t like the way the 1.5 looks. I need to work on this, I guess.
I have died & gone to low carb heaven! The condensed milk cooled and thickened up like caramel custard, without xanthan gum! No problems incorporating the butter, it melted and blended straight in. I am awaiting the finished product, can’t wait to try it.
What about a berry brulee recipe using your magic milk? I know this is sacrilege, but I am over chocolate & have a thing for berries. It is spring here in Australia, berry season is around the corner.
Thanks for the clarification re quantities. I added some extra almond meal cause the batter was sweet and didn’t look big enough. No oat flour here, so used oat bran instead, as we have no gluten issues. What a yum combo, might try oat bran in other recipes.
Your recipes are the best, keep ’em coming!
yay, so glad it worked! I have some non-chocolate ideas for this milk, so stay tuned. May take me a while, though…
Carolyn, you are a total genius. I am in awe right now. You just blow my mind on a daily basis. I still think of these as hello dollies too and I can’t help but sing the song every single time.
Maybe it’s a Canadian thing to call them Hello Dollies?
I don’t think it’s strictly Canadian — my mother was from St. Louis and that’s what she always called them.
I’m from NC and grew up with Hello Dollies, aka Seven Layer Bars, aka sugar coma. I want to try to make them more authentic with homemade butterscotch morsels (using Truvia) and Lily’s chips. Thank you so much for this! It’s a family tradition I hope to continue, low-carb.
When I was growing up in Canada, we called them Hello Dollies too! I’ve never met anyone else who did.
I’m from Alabama and I’ve always known them as Hello Dollies too! Question: I doubled the condensed milk recipe, and not knowing if mince condensed as much as yours did (although it appears to have turned out great) – what is the yield of “1 recipe?” Not sure how much to add for this recipe.
It’s about 1 cup, maybe a little over, when reduced.
Awesome to know that a low carb version of these sweet childhood treats are possible!
As always, looks scrumptious! I make a condensed milk with coconut milk for my Magic Coconut Bars (http://simplylivinghealthy.org/2012/02/09/magic-coconut-bars/) I only use 2 Tbsp of coconut sugar so not much in the scheme of the entire dessert but I am definitely going to try using Swerve in the recipe next time!
That sounds delicious, I am definitely going to try that out with coconut milk.
You are awesome, Carolyn! This is one of my favorite childhood treats…and I try to avoid them like the plague due to wanting my pants to zip up! But here you go making a low carb version…I can hear the applause! Hope you’re having a wonderful week~ xo
You are the best. Just the best. Magic bars… drool…