6 Layer/Magic bars in France: the joys of speculoos

In college 6 layer bars/Magic bars/other regional names for this dessert of glory was my go-to dessert for group events.  They are always a crowd please-er and embarrasingly easy to make.  Seriously the hardest step is crushing a package of graham crackers.

For my second dessert attempt in France I made them, but had to make a few modifications due to availability/lack of availability of ingredients, namely graham crackers.  Instead I used speculoos cookies (see Figure 2. below).  If you have not had speculoos in its may forms of joy and wonder, get on a plane and come to France or the Netherlands (speculoos is originally Dutch, one of the many glorious Dutch contributions to the world).  Or beg someone you know in France to mail you some.


Ingredients:
1/2 250g stick of butter (see Figure 1.)
350g speculoos cookies
200g shredded coconut
397g (1 can) sweetened condensed milk
400g dark chocolate

Bake Time: 25 minutes

Directions:

• Prehead oven to 176°^C (350°^F)
• Crush speculoos into tiny bits (see Figure 3.)
• Melt butter and in bowl combine with speculoos (Figure 4.)
• Pour into pan and spread evenly (Figure 5.)
• Add coconut (Figure 6.)
• Chop chocolate into small bite-size pieces (Figure 7.)
• Add chocolate
• Pour sweetened condensed milk onto pan, making sure to evenly spread and avoid pouring on the sides of the pan. (Figure 8.)
• Bake 25 minutes
• Allow goodness to cool
• Enjoy!

Figure 1.  1/2 250g butter

Figure 2.  Joy and glory

 Figure 3.

Figure 4. melted butter

Figure 5. form crust

Figure 6.

Figure 7.

Figure 8.

Observations:
Dessert was once again hit with the crowd
Speculoos makes life and everything better
Chopping chocolate by hand was a lot of work
Potato masher was a great tool for pulverizing the speculoos
Using butter or non-stick spray would help with crust sticking in corners and edges