I’m not kidding! These chewy caramel-y chocolate nut bars are made without a single bowl. From scratch. They’ll save you all those times you promise to make something sweet but run out of time!
Meet my emergency quick sweet-treat!
I am one of those people who always overcommits. Especially when it comes to anything food related. Then 7 out of 10 times, I find myself in a flurry at the last minute because I promised to bring something sweet for lunch with friends, or to make something for my friends’ son’s school bake sale because she works full time and doesn’t have the time to bake something.
So it’s super handy to have a few really fast sweet recipes up your sleeve and this is one of mine. Just wait until you see how it’s made – it’s SO QUICK and you don’t need a SINGLE BOWL!
How to make these no-bowl chocolate nut bars
I know you’re probably wondering how on earth these bars are made without using a bowl at all so I’ll cut straight to the chase! Here’s how it’s done:
It’s made by creating a biscuit base using butter melted in the pan then sprinkling over crushed biscuits and desiccated coconut. Then it’s topped with nuts (your choice), chocolate chips, then finally topped with condensed milk which is what brings the whole bar together. Once baked, it holds together and becomes gloriously chewy, caramely bar!
Place butter straight into a lined pan and melt it in the oven while it is pre-heating.
Swirl to spread the melted butter across the base.
Sprinkle crushed biscuits across the base, then spread using a spoon/spatula/hands and lightly press down. I’m not meticulous here about even spreading, this is, after all, an emergency recipe!!
Sprinkle coconut across the base.
Top with about 2/3 of the nuts and choc chips
Pour over condensed milk.
Top with remaining nuts and choc chips.
Bake 30 minutes until light golden on the edges, then cool before cutting!
Ingredients in No-bowl chocolate nut bars
Ordinarily I put the ingredients before the recipe steps, but I feel like for this recipe it should be other way round! So, here’s what you need. It’s fabulously versatile – any plain biscuits, switch the peanuts and chocolate chips with other things like dried fruit and other nuts.
Condensed milk – This sweetened milk is like a thick syrup and this is the key ingredient that holds the bar together. Standard cans here in Australia re 395g (14oz) and are sold in the long-life dairy section in grocery store aisles.
Peanuts & chocolate chips – Feel free to substitute these with other add-ins of choice. Especially hand if you have a peanut or nut allergy in the family. Try pepitas and dried fruit!
Coconut – Desiccated coconut blends into the crushed biscuits to create the base. If you don’t like or don’t have coconut, feel free to add extra biscuits instead, or leftover wheat germ / wheat bran (if you made last weeks’ Breakfast Muffins!).
Butter – For buttery goodness and also to hold the base together.
Plain biscuits/cookies – Anything that can be crushed will work fine here. I’ve used all sorts over the years – Marie, Arrowroot (featured in today’s recipe), Graham crackers, scotch fingers. I once even made this with chocolate Oreo cookies by scraping the filling off!! (It was an emergency and it was darn delicious!)
It’s not a hack
This is one of those recipes that is not a “hack”, but rather an incidental side benefit is that it can be made without dirtying a single bowl. I would make these even if I had to use a bowl to make them!
So keep this one tucked away for one of those days when you’re in a rush and you’ve promised to make a sweet treat for your family or friends!! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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No-bowl Chocolate Nut Bars
Ingredients
- 100g (7 tbsp) unsalted butter , cut into a few chunks
- 1 cup (100g) plain biscuits, crushed (eg. Marie, Arrowroot, digestives, Graham crackers – Note 1)
- 1 cup desiccated coconut (unsweetened)
- 1 cup unsalted peanuts , or other nuts of choice (Note 2)
- 1 cup dark choc chips (US: semi-sweet chips) (Note 2)
- 395g (14 oz) (1 can) sweetened condensed milk (Note 3)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F (160C fan-forced)
- Line pan – Lightly spray a 20cm/8" square pan with oil then press in a sheet of paper (no need to be meticulous here).
- Melt butter – Place the butter in the pan then melt in the oven for 5 minutes.
- Biscuit base – Swirl pan to spread butter then sprinkle over crushed biscuits. Spread then gently press down (again, I am not meticulous about evenness here).
- Layer – Scatter over the coconut, followed by about 2/3 of the peanuts and choc chips (reserve some for the top). Pour over condensed milk, spread for even coverage. Top with remaining nuts and chocolate chips.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the edge of the surface is golden brown.
- Fully cool before cutting (3 hours on counter, or 1 hr counter + 1 hr fridge). Remove using paper overhang then cut and eat!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published way back in September 2015. Republished with a brand new video and photos by reader request!
Life of Dozer
New house. New shoot studio. Same scavenger.
So, so good. I used chopped macadamias and some granulated peanuts. absolutely awesome. Thank you Nagi.
One more thing; Say you didn’t have any biscuits for the base, could you follow the biscuit base recipe for your Caramel Slice recipe? Has anyone done this?
I made these a few weeks back using leftover Christmas shortbread for the base. Didn’t have any coconut so subbed with toasted oats as per other review suggestions. Used pecans, as that’s what I had to had and chopped up some Christmas left-over chocolate (Maltesers, Minstrels and Toblerone for the topping and it was STILL blummin’ delicious! Love this one, Nagi.
In the US, we call these Hello Dollies or Magic Cookie Bars. I’ve been making them for over 40 years now, and my version includes butterscotch chips along with the chocolate, and I use chopped pecans instead of peanuts. So many different versions exist, and they’re all so good! ☺️
Get out of town….!! I’m trying this tomorrow…. and including dried cranberries…
This is the “Town bike slice” look it up! Easy and everybody wants some 👍😁
I’ve made this many times now with various nuts, dried fruit and different chocolates and they are all wonderful! I just wondered if you thought it might feeze ok? I want to have one for a chap who brings firewood to me but I don’t get much notice for when he can come so won’t have time to cook one fresh. Would be good to put one in the freezer for him if you think it might defrost ok?
I think I’ve made this at least 3 times in the last 3 months! Love it ! So easy, quick and adaptable ! I’ve made it with milk arrowroot’s, butter snap (my fav), pecans, walnuts, dark or milk choc chips, I pretty much used what was in the cupboard.. all super yum ! Thanks Nagi!
I live in Canada and as far as I know we only have regular brown sugar or dark which we call Demerrera. You mention not to use dark, so no Demerrera but what is light brown sugar?
Thank you, I look forward to trying this.
Hi! This recipe is amazing! Well done, Nagi!! I found this while scrolling through trying to find a “quick bar with chocolate” haha and I found your NO-PAN CHOCOLATE AND NUT BAR.
Ah-ha….just the thing! I have to tell you…I was desperate for something sweet with chocolate in it, and so I rummaged around in my cupboards for find ingredients, and came up with crushed pretzels for the base (I had butter), mixed nuts from Costco, and an outdated can of sweetened condensed milk (just a year 😂).
Did I say I was desperate? Everything else as per recipe.
Oh my! They were so good! Scary….now this recipe is imprinted on my brain and I can’t unsee it! Help…😳😬
This is now my go to slice recipe! I started it as a macadamia and white chocolate slice, then with a man I thought would prefer it did fruit and nut and milk chocolate. Today I’ve made one I don’t know if it will work out, but am giving it you a young man who has been helping me around the yard. He loves spicy food and hot chillies, so I’ve done a dark chocolate fruit and nut one, and finely chopped hot red baby chillies into it. I hope it worked but I’ll only know when I give it to him tomorrow and he tries it! Otherwise he may not come and help me again!! lol Thanks so much for the recipe Nagi!
Absolute winner! So so easy and great mix of textures, chewy, crunchy, and tastes divine 🙂 As I can’t have coconut or peanuts, I substituted with brown rice puffs and cashews ….just as great. Thanks again Nagi 😃
So… just curious… when I weigh 80g of desiccated coconut, it’s not even half a cup yet your measurements say that it should be equivalent to 1 cup.
Soooo good! Reminds me of childhood and nearly exactly as mum made it but think she only used coconut, no biscuits. I used a bigger tin and next time will use the same square pan to let the crumbs create a thicker base with the butter. Amazingly divine once again Nagi. Nailed it!
If I want to reduce sugar, how could I replace condensed milk please….. I am keen to try!!
The sweetened condensed milk is what holds it all together when baked…so maybe you could use sugar free biscuits/cookies and stevia sweetened choc chips if you want less sugar in this recipe?
Sooo good and so easy!! For the crust, I made a quick gluten free shortbread: 3/4 cup gf flour, 1/4 tsp xanthan gum, 3 tbsp sugar, 5 tbsp unsalted butter, a pinch of salt then combined in food processor. Baked at 350 F for about 20 minutes until edges were golden then poked baked crust with fork and proceeded with rest of recipe. I used toasted chopped almonds instead of peanuts. The real hardship was waiting for the bars to cool before cutting into them. Maybe I’ll try the freezer next time… This recipe is a keeper!
I almost make this weekly as my “snacking” treat. It takes minutes to come together and most days I don’t even wait until it cools to cut! Ha! It’s perfect, have used all types of cookies and nuts, my favourite thing has to be the chewy crisp parts! I could eat the whole thing if left to my own devices!
Hi Nagi and Dozer, would it be possible to make the base with crushed weet bix?
Love your book and all your posts.
Keep up the wonderful work you do.
Cheers
Helen
Can I use lactose free condensed milk like coconut condensed milk?
These will be a staple in my kitchen. The hardest part of these nut bars is not eating them in the first day. A big hit and so delicious.