Coconut Chocolate Squares

If you've ever been to a TA party, you've had these delicious squares. This recipe is a member sent in one from Paul. This would be great as desert, a snack or even a little pick me up during a long walk or hike.
Give it a try!

If you like the pairing of chocolate and coconut, you will love these. They can easily be converted to a dairy free bar by substituting Earth Balance or margarine for butter. You can even make it vegan by using vegan Graham Crackers and butter alternative.

Ingredients:
One 14 oz Can Coconut Milk
⅔ Cup Brown Sugar
2 Cups Graham Cracker Crumbs- 7-8 ounces of graham cracker
1 Stick Melted Butter- or Earth Balance or Margarine
2 Tablespoons Sugar- or substitute Coconut Sugar
1 ½ Cup Chocolate Chips
2 Cups Sweetened Shredded Coconut
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1. In a medium saucepan, add the coconut and brown sugar and bring to a simmer. Stir occasionally for 10-15 minutes. The coconut milk may look clumpy. That’s ok, it will smooth out as it simmers. If a skin forms on the surface, stir it back into the liquid. Prepare the crust while this simmers.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13”x9” baking pan with parchment paper. You do not need to spray or grease it.
3. Make your graham cracker crumbs by putting whole graham crackers into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until no large chunks remain. Add your sugar and melted butter and process until well combined.
4. If you don’t have a food processor, do the old graham cracker into a ziplock bag trick and run a rolling pin back and forth until they are crumbs. Then transfer to a bowl and add the butter and sugar and combine well.
5. Firmly press the crumb mixture into the bottom of your lined 11”x9” pan and make sure it is evenly distributed and cover the entire bottom.
6. After the coconut milk has simmered for 10-15 minutes, remove from heat and allow to cool for about 15 minutes. It doesn’t have to be cooled completely. You just don’t want to pour the scalding milk into the pan. 
7. Once cooled slightly, pour the milk over the crumb crust. Once the liquid has seeked its own level, scatter the chocolate chips evenly over the top. Then scatter the coconut flakes evenly over the chocolate. 
8. Bake for 15 minutes, rotate pan, and bake for another 15 minutes. You want the coconut to have a nice golden brown color. Be careful though, coconut gets dark fast!!!
9. Once it is done, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. I would recommend refrigerating it overnight and cutting it when it’s cold. Don’t even let it come to room temperature. The colder the better to cut these.
10. Once it is cold, place a large cutting board on top of the bars and flip over so that it lands upside down on the cutting board (only do this when it has sat overnight. If you try this warm it will be disastrous). Remove the parchment paper and flip back over.​
11. I usually square the bar off by cutting all 4 edges first, then cutting those into small bite sized pieces. Those pieces are the ones I keep in the fridge to snack on because their shapes are imperfect. 
12. Once you have a nice square piece, cut them to the size you want. I tend to make smaller sized bars, so I cut them the long way 9 times. Then the shorter way I cut 7 times giving me 63 bite sized pieces.