Gooey Layered Everything Bars

Maternity leave has so far been like a holiday. 

It probably helps that there is, as of yet, no baby who needs to be taken care of. 

I know my daily routine will be thrown up and flipped around in ways I can't even imagine once she arrives. 

Currently, after a terrible nights sleep, I get out of bed around 8-8:30 and have breakfast. Then the dog and I go for a long 90 minute to 2 hour walk in the park. Then we come home, she naps and I listen to Serial (the most amazing podcast - if you haven't gotten hooked on this yet, do it). 

Then I run errands, tidy up, think about dinner, etc. 

Last night I finally got around to baking some tea cookies (after having the dough sit in the fridge for about a week - the sugar cookie dough is still there begging to be baked) and I decided that today I would do a bit more baking. 

I did a quick search through Martha's recipes and found one that I haven't tried yet. 

So today's recipe is a fairly easy and delicious one, one that you can pretty much tailor to your tastes and one that would be well received by anyone you'd like to gift these too. 

And when it says gooey, it really means gooey.

Like, good-luck-getting-it-out-of-the-pan-in-proper-pieces gooey.

Gooey Layered Everything Bars

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place a layer of parchment paper in a bar pan.
• Using an electric mixer or a pastry cutter, mix 3/4 cup butter, 1/2 cup confectioners sugar, 1 1/2 cup flour, 3/4 cup rolled oats, and 1/2 tsp salt. Cut or pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Pour mixture into pan and press evenly into bottom of pan. Bake for 20 mins until lightly browned and firm.
• Remove from oven. Over crust, sprinkle 1 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup dried cranberries*. Drizzle with 1 can condensed milk, and 2 cups shredded sweetened coconut.  
• Bake until coconut is golden, about 20 minutes. Then remove, let cool and serve!

*I substituted dried cranberries. Martha's recipe calls for 1/2 cup raisins and 1 cup walnut pieces.