Chocolate-Coconut Bars

Here is a really simple recipe that is quick to prepare and sure to satisfy any craving for sweets. With only four ingredients, these bars turn out soft, chewy, and chocolaty. I think I will make a few changes next time around, but as is, this is a very quick and easy recipe!

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 2/3 cups sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups flaked coconut

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch square baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix together the graham cracker crumbs, sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips and coconut until well blended. Press dough evenly into the prepared baking pan.

Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool before cutting into bars.

Tips:
I crumbled the graham crackers right in the package, which was perfect because one package turned out to be just about 1 1/2 cups! I purchased the sweetened condensed milk in a 14-oz tin, which was just about 1 2/3 cups as well. I also cheated and used milk chocolate morsels because they were on sale, instead of the semisweet. I also used sweetened flaked coconut. So overall, my bars were extra, extra sweet, meaning absolutely delicious!

Next time, however, I won't mix the graham crackers with the other ingredients. I found another recipe that layered the ingredients. I though this was cool because, since I used an 11 x 7 inch pan instead of 9 inch square, my bars came out pretty flat. The new recipe, which I found on the website of Carnation (a brand of sweetened condensed milk), says to melt 1/2 stick of butter in the pan then press the graham crackers into the bottom, layering the chocolate morsels and half the coconut on top, then pouring the milk over the top, and ending with a layer of the remaining coconut. They will probably come out very pretty that way, so that is what I plan to attempt next time! Until then, I will still enjoy my first attempt.