My brilliant friend Michal makes the traditional layered bars—called Hello Dollies or Hello Dolly Bars—with Ritz crackers instead of graham crackers. They’re a potluck and bake sale favorite since they’re easy to make by simply layering the crackers with chocolate chips, nuts, coconut, and other goodies. Bar cookies are always brilliant because you can bake them up in one tidy batch, but these bars are extra brilliant because those salty Ritz crackers add balance to an otherwise strictly sweet treat.

Ingredients

35 Ritz crackers smashed into small crumbs, plus 8 additional crackers, crushed, divided

¼ cup (57 g) unsalted butter, melted

1 cup (168 g) semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup (168 g) peanut butter or butterscotch baking chips

1 cup (109 g) chopped pecans, walnuts, or macadamia nuts

1 cup (186 g) sweetened shredded dried coconut

6 oz. (180 ml) sweetened condensed milk

Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line an 8 x 8–inch (20 x 20–cm)or 9 x 9–inch (23 x 23–cm) baking dish with parchment paper.
Step 2
In a large bowl, combine the crumbs from 35 smashed crackers and melted butter. Press the mixture into the bottom of the baking dish. Sprinkle the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips,nuts and coconut over the cracker layer. Drizzle the condensed milk over the top, trying to make it reasonably even. I use a spoon and slowly drizzle the milk, spoonful by slow spoonful. Sprinkle the remaining crushed crackers over the top of the milk.
Step 3
Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the coconut is golden brown and the edges are nicely toasted. Let the bars cool for at least an hour. Cut into small triangles by first cutting 9 squares, the cutting each square in half on the diagonal to get 18 triangles.Store the bars in the fridge.

Tip

You can double this recipe in a 9 x 13–inch (23 x 33–cm) pan. Sometimes it’s best to double if you don’t want a half of a can of sweetened condensed milk in your fridge. Sometimes it’s best to double if you want to share with friends.

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Reviews (9)

TOO, TOO SWEET FOR ME!
- Anonymous
- 6/17/2023
Anything made with modern Graham crackers is going to be terrible because current Graham crackers are terrible. How could you possibly not know this?
- Carla
- Saint Paul
- 12/26/2022
Well, I tried them and I do have to say these were not very good. No one ate more than one and we ended up not eating them. As sweet as the original Hello Dolly recipe is, using graham crackers, that's how they're supposed to be and while you can usually only eat one, you always want another one sooner or later. The Ritz crackers are just wrong. We will stick to the original Hello Dolly recipe!
- CBPfromTN
- Music City, USA
- 1/10/2022
These have been our holiday tradition as well. However, I prefer them without the butterscotch. Just chocolaty goodness. We also drench it in 12 ounces of condensed milk. It holds together! I will try it with Ritz, just as an excuse to make some;)
- Anonymous
- Texas
- 1/5/2022
My family loved these. So easy and fun to make. Let them set up for a couple hours before cutting and definitely keep chilled to be less crumbly. Just put in my second batch with a bit more crust and sweet end condensed milk.
- Martha pittaway
- Richmond, Virginia
- 12/24/2021
These are magic bars that use ritz crackers instead of graham crackers. Just stick with the classic magic bar, and if you crave a salty taste to them sprinkle a little sea salt on top. These are not worth it at all.
- Anonymous
- Illinois
- 12/21/2021
I came here looking for reviews from other people, and was disappointed there was not one. Here’s mine: don’t waste your time! These are awful! What a poor excuse to use up perfectly good ingredients in a bad way. You think, oh these look like easy fun gifts! And then you waste all these perfectly excellent ingredients, in a pan of crap that falls apart, in the few that are held together taste awful together
- Anonymous
- Ct
- 12/20/2021
I would love to try baking these, but can’t eat coconut. What can be used as a substitute for the coconut?
- Kerri
- New Orleans
- 12/20/2021
I loved this recipe. I always liked the look of traditional Hello Dolly’s, but found the taste way too sweet with no depth.Here, I chose the peanut butter chips and toasted both the coconut and my pecans. Chilling overnight before cutting sets them up beautifully.
- Debbie Lanenga
- Holland, MI
- 4/2/2023