7 Layer Cookies — These 7 layer cookies are loaded with graham crackers, coconut, butterscotch chips, and chocolate chips. Chewy around the edges, but soft in the center!
Easy 7 Layer Cookies
One of my favorite desserts of all time is Seven Layer Bars, aka Magic Bars. Or Hello Dolly Bars as they’re sometimes called, depending on what potluck or bake sale you’re at.
I brought the flavors and texture of the classic Seven Layer Bars into cookies, and they’re some of my favorite cookies ever. These 7 layer cookies have some chewiness around the edges but are soft, squishy, tender and moist in the middle.
All the textures and layers of flavors just do it for me. The more, the merrier, and these cookies are loaded with graham crackers, two kinds of baking chips, and coconut. The coconut almost acts like oats would, providing heartiness, chewiness, and plenty of texture.
The cookies are a couple layers short of seven, missing nuts and sweetened condensed milk, but I don’t like nuts in bars anyway and always omit them. And sweetened condensed milk is just not cookie-friendly. Save it for these bars.
The ingredients that match up are butter, graham cracker crumbs, shredded coconut, chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips.
I adapted my favorite chocolate chip cookie base because the cookies turn out perfectly, every time. There’s cornstarch in the dough and I highly recommend trying it if you haven’t hopped on the soft cornstarch cookie bandwagon yet.
Other cookies with cornstarch include M&M’s Cookies, Snickers Cookies, Twix Bar Cookies, Caramel Corn Chocolate Chip Cookies, Soft and Puffy Peanut Butter Coconut Oil Cookies, Soft and Chewy S’mores Cookies, and Softbatch Funfetti Sugar Cookies.
There’s something about the combination of butterscotch with coconut, chocolate with graham crackers, and tossing it all together in one recipe that’s so satisfying. Marriage of complementary flavors, at their finest.
The cookies remind me of the potlucks, church basement bake sales, Girl Scout troop meetings, graduations, and so many of the celebrations and parties I attended growing up in rural Minnesota. There was always a pan of Seven Layer Bars.
If some other lady didn’t bring a pan, it was one of my mom’s signature last-minute desserts, and one I secretly hoped would go untouched so we could bring home the leftovers. Never the case though.
I’ll always have a soft spot for the original bars, but these 7 layer cookies have my attention now. Soft, chewy, melty, tons of textures and flavors.
What’s in 7 Layer Cookies?
To make these magic bar cookies, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Cornstarch
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Graham crackers
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Butterscotch chips
- Sweetened shredded coconut
How to Make 7 Layer Cookies
To make these seven layer cookies, you’ll first need to cream together the butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla until light and fluffy. This will take about 5 minutes. Then, mix in the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt, followed by the mix-ins.
Scoop the cookie dough into balls, then flatten them slightly between the palms of your hands. Chill the dough for at least 2 hours, then bake for 8 to 9 minutes, or until the edges are set but the centers are still glossy.
Do NOT bake longer than 9 minutes for soft cookies because they firm up as they cool!
Can I Omit the Coconut?
If you’re not a big fan of coconut, not to worry, it’s not a pronounced flavor and doesn’t dominate. It’s present but not overwhelming, and while you could possibly omit it and add more flour (I know I’ll be asked), it’s a key ingredient in Seven Layer Bars and something I recommend keeping for flavor, texture, and authenticity.
Can I Add Other Mix-Ins?
I’m sure you can! Chopped nuts, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, and dried fruit are all options. Just make sure not to add too many mix-ins, otherwise the dough won’t form balls.
Do I Have to Chill the Dough?
Yes, you MUST chill the dough. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter.
Can I Scoop the Dough After I Chilled It?
Technically, yes, but it’s really hard to do. Once the dough is chilled, it firms up and becomes slightly crumbly (note that it doesn’t result in crumbly cookies though!). It’s a pain to form into balls once chilled, so I recommend scooping the dough into balls and then chilling it.
How to Store 7 Layer Cookies
Once baked, these 7 layer cookies can be kept on your counter in an airtight container for up to a week. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
Can I Freeze 7 Layer Cookies?
Yes, you can freeze the raw cookie dough as well as the baked cookies. If you freeze the dough, you can bake it directly from frozen.
Tips for Making 7 Layer Cookies
I chopped the graham crackers rather than pulverizing them into crumbs, creating some nice surprise pieces peeking out from the dough. The pieces soften while baking, but retain some crunch, adding to the texture party going on.
Keep a close eye on the cookies and don’t overbake. Coconut is prone to burning and the cookies taste best when they’re a bit underbaked, pillowy soft, and gooey.
The salt is optional in these seven layer cookies, but I highly recommend adding it in. Salt adds depth to baked goods and balances out some of the sweetness.
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Soft and Chewy Seven Layer Magic Bar Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 1 cup coarsely chopped graham crackers and crumbs, about 4 full-size cracker sheets
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ¾ cup butterscotch chips
- ¾ cup sweetened shredded coconut
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, sugars, egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until well-creamed, light and fluffy, about 5 minutes (or use a hand mixer and beat for at least 7 minutes).
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, optional salt, and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Add the graham crackers (include the fine crumbs too, they act as flour here and are important), chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coconut and beat momentarily to incorporate, less than 1 minute, or fold in by hand.
- Using a 2-inch cookie scoop, form heaping two-tablespoon mounds (I made 22). Place mounds on a large plate, flatten mounds slightly with your palm, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat, or spray with cooking spray. Place mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet).
- Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set, even if slightly undercooked, pale and glossy in the center. Do not bake longer than 9 minutes for soft cookies because they firm up as they cool (The cookies shown in the photos were baked with dough that had been chilled overnight, allowed to come to room temp for 15 minutes, and were baked for 8 minutes, with trays rotated at the 4-minute mark. They have chewy edges with soft, pillowy, gooey centers).
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling.
Notes
- Store cookies airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
- Recipe adapted from my Chocolate Chip and Chunk Cookies and Soft and Chewy Smores Cookies.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I love the cookies, and they are easy to make, but I will definitely cut the butterscotch chips from 3/4 c to 1/2c or even 1/4c because they overpowered the rest of the flavors. I tasted too much butterscotch, just the right amount of coconut, but then I got hit with butterscotch again. They are definitely ooey gooey and very yummy. One small adjustment and I think they’d better suit my pallet.
Glad you really enjoyed them and yes if you don’t like butterscotch quite as much, cut back on that. Classic Seven Layer Bars are pretty butterscotch-ey, one of those nostalgic flavors that is in full force with these but easy to tone down!
There are way to many adds on this web site. I cannot even find recipe. Impossible to read from smartphone. Extremely annoying. 0 star rating to this.
My cookies don’t look done at 9 minutes
Then cook them longer. All ovens, climates, ingredients vary, so cook until done.
I had no idea this was a thing! Can’t wait to these 🍪😍🍪😍
Awesome and enjoy!
I’m browsing all of your related recipes and need to bake all the cookies right now! Cookies and candy bars…reese’s, snickers and twix oh my! I’m going to need a gym membership 🏋️♀️
Haha! Enjoy the treats :)
I want to make these so bad! Probably will tomorrow but I was just wondering if I could add nuts to these. My father in law always complains when I bake without nuts lol so I want to add some in here. Would they still turn out well? And what nut would work best? Maybe I’ll just experiment…
Yes you can add nuts. I’d go with maybe chopped walnuts or pecans but really you can use whatever you’d like.
Hello Averie! I’ve made the 7 layer cookie bar cookies twice and taken them to work both times. Everybody absolutely loves these! I did tweak it just a bit, but only after making your softbatch chocolate chips cookies, with cream cheese in the batter. I used 1/2 cup butter and 3oz of cream cheese. And they only lasted 3 hours!
These are the most requested cookies, so I’d like to thank you for your amazing recipes! Tina
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Good call on tweaking it to be more like the softbatch cream cheese cookies (I made these long before those were ever on my brain!). So glad these are the most requested cookie!
On the soft and chewy 7 layer cookies, can you just refrigerate the dough a while and then just use scoop to put directly on cookie sheet instead of piling up on a plate and smashing and covering with plastic wrap?
I recommend following the recipe the way I wrote it.
These cookies are really good. I hate when I go to the comments to try and find out if something is good and no one that commented actually made them. They are just commenting off of the pic and if it sounds good. I just made them and am happy with them. I did change one thing, I only put one teaspoon of corn starch I do not like biscuit like cookies. And I also used fresh dough without refrigerating and they turned out perfect but then again I do not like biscuit type cookies so I didn’t mind them not rising lol. They kind of remind me of the 7 layer bars but it’s still not the same but it’s a great cookie
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you without chilling the dough and with a little cornstarch! I have tons of cookie recipes that I use cornstarch in as well and it’s a great little trick, isn’t it!
Putting the Seven Layer Magic Bars into a cookie is just sheer genius!
Bummer. made these tonight — fail :(
Not sure what I did wrong, but the cookies were super flat and a crumbly , greasy mess. They can’t be eaten as cookies, but maybe as a crumb topping for ice cream.
I’m not sure where things went wrong but I suspect it has to do with the graham cracker pieces…sounds like they may have either been too big and weren’t being held easily within the dough OR too small/too finely ground which cased it to behave more like flour, thus contributing to a crumbly cookie yet also greasy. Thanks for trying the recipe.
I made these yesterday, and they are already gone! I made mine as written and they were perfect!
Thanks for trying them as written and glad they were perfect for you1
Trying these on this snowy NY day…am out of sweetened coconut and light brown sugar so going with unsweetened and dark brown sugar. Hoping they come out still. Wondering if I should throw in some coconut oil or just more white sugar?
Don’t add any coconut oil and maybe you’d want to add about 2-3 tbsp white sugar if you’re not using sweetened coconut. LMK how it goes!
Oh those cookies look so sinfully delicious! I love it that you added coconut to the mix! Pinned!
thanks for pinning!
Another fabulous recipe. I didn’t notice that the dough should have been chilled, but they were wonderful, all the same. What a great idea!
Thanks for trying them and glad they worked out for you, even without chilling the dough! I always get puffier, thicker, prettier cookies when I chill it first but if you were able to get away without chilling, great! :)
Those look so decadently good!
In the process of making these now. First batch are looking flat so far. Are you supposed to let them come to room temperature before baking?
No, you’re supposed to put them in the oven with CHILLED dough. Otherwise what would be the point of chilling it, you know? If you just wait for it to get warm again. Sometimes I have dough chilling for 4-5 days and it’s ICE cold, nearly frozen. Sometiems I let that come up to room temp, for 10-15 mins, but otherwise, no. Chilled dough! And if your dough is soft, like really soft, you may want to add 1 to 3 tbsp additional flour if you feel they’re really flat. It depends on how many crumbs vs. chunks your graham cracker pieces were. I had lots of crumbs which act like flour. If you had more chunks, you may need to bump up the flour amt just slightly.