Chocolate Hazelnut Magic Bars (GF)

These Chocolate Hazelnut Magic Bars are a new flavor twist on a classic cookie bar. The crust is kept naturally gluten-free with hazelnut flour. A gooey Nutella filling and topping made of chocolate chips, flaked coconut, and hazelnuts takes these bars over the top!

These Chocolate Hazelnut Magic Bars are a hazelnut lovers dream. They’re pretty magical, you might say. I packed a bunch of hazelnut flavor into these in three separate ways, and each way adds its own texture and flavor and contributes to the overall deliciousness of these bars. Of course, there’s also a whole lot of chocolate.

First: the crust. Magic bars traditionally have a graham cracker crust, but to make these super hazelnutty (new word?) and keep them gluten free, I used Bob’s Red Mill hazelnut flour. I mixed it with butter to help it hold together and give it delicious buttery flavor. The crust goes into the oven for a few minutes to help it firm up a bit before you put on the rest of the toppings.

After the crust is baked for 8 minutes, we get to the fun stuff. The second appearance of hazelnuts comes in the form of chocolate hazelnut spread. Chocolate hazelnut spread and sweetened condensed milk are mixed together and spread over the crust which creates this irresistible, fudge-like filling. My housemate Ally said the filling tastes like the inside of a Ferrero Rocher truffle and that description is pretty much spot on.

Chocolate chips are sprinkled on top of that, along with coconut and chopped hazelnuts. You could use sweetened coconut here, but I much prefer to use Bob’s Red Mill unsweetened flaked coconut. It looks much prettier than the sweetened, shredded stuff, and to be honest – this recipe doesn’t need the extra sugar from the sweetened coconut. The chocolate hazelnut spread, sweetened condensed milk, and chocolate chips add plenty of sweetness.

After these bars are put together, you want to press down on them hard with a spatula so that the chocolate hazelnut spread mixture starts to come up and seep between your toppings. This will help your bars stay together much better once they’re baked and cooled – otherwise your toppings are susceptible to falling off the top of your bars. No one wants that.

This batch can be halved if you don’t need to serve a whole bunch of people. These are great to make for the holidays, and they’d be perfect to add to any holiday gift, especially if you’re gifting anyone whose gluten-free! Enjoy :)

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Chocolate Hazelnut Magic Bars   Save Print Prep time 10 mins Cook time 35 mins Total time 45 mins   Author: Rachel Conners Serves: 32 bars Ingredients

• 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill hazelnut flour
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• ⅔ cup chocolate hazelnut spread
• 1 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk
• 1½ cups dark chocolate chips
• 1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
• 1 cup chopped hazelnuts

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with parchment paper and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Combine hazelnut flour and butter. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sweetened condensed milk and chocolate hazelnut spread. Pour sweetened condensed milk mixture evenly over par-baked hazelnut crust. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, flaked coconut and hazelnuts. Press down firmly with a fork or spatula.
4. Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool competely. Cut into 32 bars. Store covered at room temperature.

Notes You can halve this recipe and bake in a 8x8-inch pan. 3.4.3177

This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill. As always, all opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that support Bakerita! :)

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