From Rose’s Christmas Cookie book comes the recipe for David’s Dream Bars, which we’ve always called Stuie’s Dream Bars because they are my husband’s favorite of all the Christmas cookies I’ve ever made. They are my son’s too and instead of changing the name repeatedly we can just agree that three kinds of chocolate on a graham cracker crust and sprinkled with pecans is everyone’s dream of a Christmas present.
Here is a recipe I found online making a little thicker amount of crust than the one Rose had in her book. This recipe, from SusanSalzmancreative.com, called for cooking the crust for 8 minutes and the bars for a total of 25, but that is too much. Follow along:
- 9.5 oz graham crackers (crusted, pulverized in a food processor)
- 8 oz butter
- 6 oz white chocolate
- 6 oz milk chocolate
- 6 oz dark chocolate
- 3 cups of pecan (1 cup left whole to be placed on the top at the end)
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- 15 oz sweetened condensed milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt butter in a jelly roll pan. When melted add the graham cracker crumbs. Press into the pan in an even layer. Add shredded coconut if it is not already toasted and bake for about 5 minutes.
Sprinkle 2 cups of chopped pecans over the coconut (if pecans have also not be pre-toasted you can add those in the first step. Scatter chocolate over the pecans, evenly pour the condensed milk in a zig zag pattern over the chocolate. Bake for 10 minutes then rotate the pan and bake until the mixture is bubbling – about 5 – 10 minutes. Cool completely – to help cut – then cut into bars. Refrigerate for up to one week or freeze tightly wrapped in an air tight container for as long as a month.