Hello Dolly Bar

Reprinted with permission from Aarika Patel

Every year is a good year to be grateful for Dolly Parton, but especially this year. So we decided to update the basic Hello Dolly bar recipe (I refuse to believe that it is not named after her). Hello Dolly bars are one of this childhood desserts that came to us from newspaper recipe clippings. Easy and quick to put together, you can easily customize the dessert based on what ingredients you have or want to use. Over the past few years, we’ve added another layer of pumpkin or apple butter to the party, making an over the top dessert even more decadent. Best yet, it solved the debate of whether to have pumpkin pie or pecan pie or chocolate pecan pie - because now you can have it all. 

Ingredients:

1 15-oz can of unsweetened pumpkin *

1/3 cup maple syrup (I used ¼ cup)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon Chai Masala

1 teaspoon Pumpkin Spice

Pinch of salt

1 stick sweet butter, melted

1 ½ -2 cups ground Graham Crackers or Digestive biscuits

1 10-oz bag of chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1 14-oz Sweetened condensed milk

*You can use store bought pumpkin butter but we like to control the amount of sugar and spice in it, especially when combined with the other sweet elements of the dessert.  

Cooking instructions:

Preheat oven to 350⁰F.

1.    Make the pumpkin buttter: combine pumpkin, syrup, vanilla, chia masala, pumpkin spice, and salt in a medium-size pot.

2.    Bring to a boil and allow to simmer until the pumpkin becomes dark in color and most of the water is reduced, making sure to stir frequently.   (About 20 minutes.) You can also use an Instapot at High pressure for 5 minutes.  Allow to rest for 7 minutes before releasing.

3.    Let the pumpkin butter cool.

4.    Line a casserole dish with parchment paper so that extra paper hangs over the sides.  You will use this later to pull the Hello Dolly Bar out of the pan. 

5.    Grind the Graham Crackers or cookies using a food processor or taking out your aggression on a Ziploc bag with a rolling pin.

6.    Combine with the melted butter and mix until the crumbs have a wet sand texture.

7.    Now you simply build the bars. Press the cookie crumbs evenly into the pan, making sure to fill in the corners.  Press down on the crumbs with the bottom of a half-cup measuring cup.

8.    Add a layer of chocolate chips, then the pumpkin butter.

9.    Sprinkle on the pecans and then, coconut flakes.

10. Finally pour the condensed milk evenly over the top.

11. Bake 20-25 minutes or until the milk starts to bubble and brown.

12. Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes. The bars will be very gooey while warm and will not hold their shape very well (though they will be delicious and excellent with ice cream at this stage.) Remove from pan by pulling up the overhanging parchment paper.  Let cool for another 10 minutes to be able to cut into clean bars.

Makes: 30 inch-square bars