Description

Love the taste of pina coladas? You will enjoy those flavors in these wonderful bars with the richness and brilliant flavor combination of coconut and sweetened condensed milk.

Ingredients

• non-stick cooking spray
• 1/4 c. butter, melted
• scant 3/4 c. graham cracker crumbs
• 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained extremely well
• heaping 1/2 c. maraschino cherries, halved
• 1/2 c. white chocolate chips
• 1 c. sweetened shredded coconut flakes, measured loosely and not packed
• two-thirds of a 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk (about 9 oz.)

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 x 8 inch baking pan with aluminum foil that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray; set aside. DO NOT skip lining pan because clean-up will be awful.
2. In a large, microwaveable bowl, melt butter, about 1 minute on High power. Add graham crackers crumbs; toss lightly with a fork, coating crumbs evenly. Turn mixture out into prepared pan to form an even, smooth, flat crust by tapping crumbs into place with a spatula or fingertips. The amount of crust is skimpy and barely covers the pan, but that's fine. Evenly sprinkle crust with pineapple, white chocolate chips and coconut. Drizzle sweetened condensed milk over the top.
3. Bake about 30 - 34 minutes, or until lightly golden brown around edges and barely bubbling in the center, and the center is mostly set. Keep a close eye on bars in the final 10 minutes of baking because coconut can go from raw-looking to burned in 1 minute. If necessary, tent the pan by covering pan with a sheet of foil in the last 5 minutes of baking, to help prevent coconut from burning.