Grandmom Jeanette – Seven Layer Bars

In the fall of 1987, I was a junior in college when I got a call that my maternal grandmother, Jeanette, had had a heart attack. The prognosis was grim. I had to return to Philadelphia from school in Indiana, as did my brothers from wherever they were living, while our mother, on a teacher exchange that year, had to fly home from Birmingham, England.

Jeanette was an excellent cook. Her repertoire ranged from traditional old-world Jewish fare – knishes, brisket, and chopped liver – to “back of the box” food from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s American suburbs; think corn flake-crusted chicken. She was especially known for her desserts – mandelbrot (like biscotti), schnecken (S cookies), brownies, and apple and plum strudel.

A day or two after we returned home, Jeanette died. There was a funeral service and we had shiva at our house, lasting for a few days. Friends and family stopped by to pay their respects and mourn, each bringing food to share. At shiva, there is always food.

As much as I remember, the tradition in Philadelphia – or at least in my family – was to serve lox and smoked fish with bagels at shiva. We rarely ate it any other time. In fact, the only time I remember anyone in my family eating it was at shiva, when a friend or relative passed away. Lox and bagels were not served for Sunday brunch, and it certainly wasn’t part of the meal to break Yom Kippur’s fast. (I don’t recall anyone in my family, save perhaps my brother Lee, ever fasting.) But at shiva, there were dozens of bagels, loaves of black pumpernickel bread, and huge, specially ordered fish platters.

The fish trays were piled high with thin slices of salmon – both Nova and regular lox – to top your bagel. Whole whitefish, their golden skin filled with flakey smoked pieces, stared up at you from the platter. Pickled herring may or may not have made an appearance, but it certainly wouldn’t have been out of place. Containers were filled with tuna and egg salads, cream cheese, and butter. Cheeses – American, Swiss, Munster – were stacked tall and there were piles of sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, and sweet onions to heap on your sandwich. Unfortunately, despite the abundance, I didn’t like any of it except for the bagels. Not even cream cheese. I like butter on my bagel.

Of course, there were also plenty of desserts. While my brothers and I knew that there would be as much fish and bagels as we could eat at Grandmom Jeanette’s shiva, there would also be lots of desserts. We decided a proper tribute to our grandmother would be to prepare desserts using some of her own recipes.

We got the keys and drove to her apartment, hoping to find her recipe collection without too much of a search. It felt like an act of sacrilege entering her dark apartment without her there. As hesitant as we were, we located the recipes and made a quick exit. Once home, we got to work.

While we avoided some of her more complex recipes, we each prepared one of her desserts. I don’t recall what my brothers made, but I baked my grandmother’s Seven Layer Cookies. They were always one of my favorites; cloyingly sweet and buttery, with chocolate and butterscotch chips and flakes of coconut that got caught in your teeth. I assumed it was a secret family recipe passed down through the generations, like her knishes and strudel. While I still love them, I now know it was a recipe popularized in the 1960s, making an appearance on the back of the Eagle Brand can of condensed milk that is essential to the recipe. Even if it was not one of her traditional recipes, it was a classic in my mind.

I’m not sure if any other family and friends who attended shiva knew that my brothers and I had prepared some of her desserts, but I do know I was at peace that we had sent Grandmom Jeanette off with a proper tribute.

Seven Layer Cookies

I was recently searching through a box of Jeanette’s old recipes and found her recipe for Seven Layer Cookies. It’s not much more than a list of ingredients, along with the oven temperature, pan size, and time the cookies should spend in the oven. No directions whatsoever. But that attests to how simple these bars are to prepare.

A quick search online finds a bit of history about the cookies and numerous variations under several different names – Seven Layer Cookies, Hello Dolly Bars, Coconut Dream Bars, Magic Bars. Some recipes leave out the butterscotch chips or replace them with peanut butter chips, while others suggest pecans instead of walnuts. My own grandmother’s recipe gives the option of leaving out coconut altogether by saying “if you like it.” Sometimes, the graham cracker crumbs are mixed with butter, while in some recipes the butter coats the bottom of the pan as the first of seven layers. No matter. For a simple sweet treat, try your own variation of these Seven Layer Cookies. They are sure to make everyone happy and may even bring back fond memories of our loved ones who baked recipes 60 years ago.

makes 12 – 18 bars, about 45 minutes, plus cooling time

1 stick butter, melted

1 cup graham cracker crumbs, about 10 – 12 graham crackers

6 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

6 oz. butterscotch chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1 – 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 ^oF.
2. Place one sheet of parchment paper on the bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking pan, with the edges of the paper coming up the longer sides of the baking pan. Fold the parchment over the edges of the baking pan so that the paper fits and is not wrinkled or bunched up. This will make it easier to remove the bars once cooled.
3. In a bowl mix the melted butter and graham cracker crumbs until well combined. Place in the baking pan on top of the parchment paper and press lightly to flatten and cover the whole bottom.
4. Add the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, walnuts, and coconut in layers over the graham cracker crust. Pour sweetened condensed milk over the top of all layers.
5. Place in the oven and bake 25 to 30 minutes until the edges start to brown.
6. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before running a knife along the edges without parchment to loosen. Using the parchment paper, lift the whole thing out of the pan. Place on a cutting board and cut into squares. Store in an air-tight container.

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