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If you've ever eaten in the Mississippi College cafeteria, and probably many other college cafeterias, you know that the food is less than edible. Greasy vegetables, crunchy bananas, and rubbery fish top the list. Even the omelets made me feel sick; I seriously could not eat them. I think that I lived on salads and select vegetables (as many other of my classmates did!). However, in addition to a really good salad bar, the desserts were great. If you liked bread pudding or cobbler then you could probably gain a pretty good amount of weight, unless that was your meal!

Another specialty, which some people think is the best thing the cafe makes, is magic cookie bars. So, I decided that I wanted to try my hand at them. The first time I had these was at a friend's house in eighth grade. I thought they were great, but had never made them myself. The same night I pulled out the infamous frozen meal, I made these bars. I thnk that, along with a fantastic movie, took the show! My friends were very pleased. One thing I think I would recommend is using good graham crackers rather than store brand. For some reason, I don't usually use store brand, but this time I went frugal and did. Not the right choice. I thought the crust, which is usually my favorite part, was not very good. However, when put with everything else, it was all yummy to the tummy! I decided to do half and half choclate and white choclate to see which was better. BOTH were good but I think the choclate was preferred by my friends. I also used less coconut but it could have used a little more. Just use your judgement. Changes in these areas won't have any detrimental effects to the DELICIOUSNESS of this dessert! Okay, enought of that...here's the recipe!

Magic Cookie Bars
The Cookie Bible, 2004

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups Graham Cracker crumbs
1 1/3 cups Coconut
1 cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 cup chopped Pecans
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (I used about 1/2 can)*

Preheat oven to 350. Crush graham crackers. This can be done in a plastic bag with a rolling pin or meat tenderizer if you don't have or don't want to use your food processor or Oscar. I think you can even buy pre-crushed crumbs now! Mix butter and graham cracker crumbs in medium bowl. Press onto bottom of greased foil-lined (EASY CLEAN-UP!) 13X9 baking pan. Sprinkle with coconut, chocolate chunks, and nuts. Pour condensed milk over top. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Lift out of pan onto cutting board.

Yield: 3 dozen bars (or less!)

*1/2 a can was enough but didn't totally cover every spot of the top. I wouldn't tell you NOT to use the whole can, but I know that it would be delicious either way.