Gluten-Free Dream Bars

I used to find it extremely difficult to find a good gluten-free dessert that didn't taste like cardboard. Now there are so many mixes and pre-packaged goodies that are actually edible, so it's impossible not to find a few sweet things to snack on while on a gluten-free diet.

My mom recently went gluten-free and it has been helping her out a lot, but I'm my mother's daughter and we both suffer from the same problem...an enormous sweet tooth. So it was super important that even though she's following certain diet restrictions, that she could still indulge in something sweet now and then. She made these bars one day when I had her and my brother over for lunch, and if we didn't know they were gluten-free we never would have known. They had chocolate and coconut and pecans. And were drizzled with sweetened condensed milk! My favorite. This is a sweet treat absolutely anyone will enjoy!

Printable Recipe

Ingredients
Makes 24 bars

• 3/4 cup soft butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 bag King Arthur Gluten-Free Cookie Mix
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup (3 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup pecan pieces
• 1 cup sweetened coconut, shredded

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan.

Combine the butter, extract, and cookie mix; the dough will be crumbly. Remove 1 1/2 cups of crumbs and reserve for streusel topping.

Add the egg to the remaining mix and blend until smooth. Spread dough in an even layer on the bottom of your prepared pan.

Drizzle dough with sweetened condensed milk. Sprinkle evenly with chocolate chips and pecans. Lightly mix the coconut with the reserved crumbs and sprinkle evenly over the chips and pecans.

Bake the bars for 26 to 28 minutes, till they're golden brown. Remove from the oven, cool for 30 minutes, then cut into squares while still warm. Cool completely before serving.

Source: King Arthur Flour