Do You Believe In Magic?

Before I tell you about this recipe, I wanted to tell you about another blog I started. I know. The new blog is a photo blog called Natural Lighting where I'll post a new photo a day of the things around me. I just started it a couple days ago so don't expect too much :-) I hope you'll go check it out!

When I first starting dating Mr. H in high school, I would go to his house and his mom always had containers of these Magic Cookie Bars. She would make a large batch and once they were cool, she'd cut them into one inch cubes and freeze them. We'd eat those frozen little nuggets right out of the recycled Country Crock container while watching TV together.

We haven't had them in a long time since his mom hasn't made any but I started to think about them and remembered how sweet, sticky and good they were. I also remembered how much my husband loved them and how much more he'd love me if I surprised him with these. And I just so happened to have all the ingredients in my pantry. Brownie points :-)

If you've never had them, you must make them. You start out with a graham cracker base, pour sweetened condensed milk on top of the crust, then layer the coconut, chocolate chips and nuts on top. Bake and you're done. They're a little sticky and gooey in spots. They're sweet but not too sweet and they have great texture. The nuts are crunchy, the crust is buttery, it's just good. You could always add dried fruit or omit the nuts and switch out the chocolate of your choice.

Magic Cookie Bars from Eagle Brand

• non-stick cooking spray
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups (12 oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13 x 9-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter in small bowl. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut and nuts. Press down firmly with fork.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Loosen from sides of pan while still warm; cool on wire rack. Cut into bars or diamonds.

After looking at these pictures, I want to make them all over again!

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Here are a few furry and feathery friends that we saw in snowy DC.

These pigeons were seen at the White House.

This bird was seen at The Lincoln Memorial.

This bird and the squirrel below were both seen in front of The Smithsonian's Natural History Museum.

This little girl in her cute sweater is named Sophie. She looked up at me but when I took the picture she looked down. She was so cute and made me miss my little girl. The snow was frozen in her little ringlets...so cute.

How can you resist those eyes? Her brother was around but he was too busy playing in the snow and wouldn't slow down enough for me to take this picture.