Sweetened Condensed Milk Chocolate Chip Bars

These shortbread-like cookies are sweet, chewy, crispy and crumbly and fudgy all at once!

Do you ever over buy at Christmas? It happens to me every year. I think to myself “well, I’m easily going to need 75 bars of unsweetened chocolate, and it can’t hurt to have six dozen cans of both sweetened condensed milk AND evaporated milk…and I’m sure I’ll go through 12 pounds of butter…” OK, that last might be true. But I still have all these leftover ingredients that are now taking up space in my pantry. I needed to find a simple, post-Christmas recipe to use up some of these things.

So I did a quick search through Pinterest (aka, the Target of my online time…if you know, you know) and came across this lovely recipe from Back to My Southern Roots for Sweetened Condensed Milk Chocolate Bars. I don’t normally bake bars (brownies being the exception) but these definitely fit the bill. And they are soooooooooo delicious! They have a shortbread base, and rich fudgy filling and a crumbly top. They’re both crispy and chewy, they’re not overly sweet and they’re heaven on a plate!

Sweetened Condensed Milk Chocolate Chip Bars

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 35 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Servings 18

Ingredients

  

For the Crust

• 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the Fudge Layer

• 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup unsweetened chocolate chopped

For the Topping

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup peanuts or any other nuts, or heck, more chocolate chips!

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line a 13×9 dish with a parchment or foil sling.
• To make the crust, beat butter until light and fluffy, about three to five minutes. Add in sugar, flour and salt and mix until mixture becomes crumbly and sticks together in clumps.
• Press into lined pan and bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown at the edges.
• To make the fudgy middle, combined sweetened condensed milk and chopped unsweetened chocolate in a medium saucepan. Cook over low heat until chocolate has melted and has combined with the sweetened condensed milk.
• Pour over baked crust and gently spread to the edges. Set aside.
• To make the topping, cream together 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 3/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Mix together until crumbly, then mix in chocolate chips and nuts.
• Sprinkle over the top of the fudgy layer, and bake for an additional 30-35 minutes.
• Cool completely on wire rack before removing from pan and cutting into squares.

Notes

** Adapted from Back to My Southern Roots Sweetened Condensed Milk Chocolate Chip Bars.

** I halved this recipe since I had half of a leftover can of sweetened condensed milk and baked them in an 8×8 pan.