Pumpkin "7-Layer" Magic Bars

 

This past weekend my mom gave me the task of making dessert for a family lunch.  On the menu was a baked potato bar and turkey chili.  The perfect Fall lunch if you ask me so we had to have the perfect Fall dessert.  I can be very indecisive when it comes to menu planning -- especially deciding on desserts.  I sifted through all of my recipes and shared a few options with my mom.  She picked these... I was hesitant...  BUT I'm so glad I let her pick.  These were top notch. 

 

I feel like a broken record but, I'll say it one more time, I am obsessed with pumpkin and all of the flavors of Fall.  Pumpkin, apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves -- all of these flavors come together in this "magic bar".  I even decided to use gingersnaps as the base instead of a graham cracker crust -- so happy I did! 







Pumpkin "7-Layer" Magic Bars
Yields:  16 bars (using a 9x9 pan)
Source:  adapted from Bakers Royale

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups gingersnap crumbs (about half of one box of Nabisco Gingnersnap Cookies)
6 tablespoons butter
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 large golden delicious apple, peeled and shredded
1/3 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup raw pecans, coarsely chopped
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Create a foil sling with a 1 inch over hang and press into 9x9 pan.  Grease foiled lined pan.

Combine gingersnap crumbs and butter and stir until well blended.  Press mixture onto bottom of pan.

Combine sweetened condensed milk, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and stir until well combined. Pour mixture over gingersnap crust.

Peel and core apple. Use the large side of the grating box to shred the apple. (**When you shred apples, there will be juice -- make share to discard juice and pat apples dry).  Layer shredded apples on the sweetened sweetened condensed milk. Sprinkle on butterscotch chips, followed by the pecans and then finish by sprinkling coconut on top.

Place assembled pan in the oven and bake for about 35-40 minutes.  I baked until the coconut was light golden brown, you don't want it to burn!  Let cool in pan completely and then transfer finished pan to the refrigerator to chill before cutting.