If you are one of those, people that like anything with coconut, then you will enjoy this KEEPER recipe for Coconut Bars. The recipe was taken from a bag of Food Club Brand Coconut.
In preparing this recipe, I made one small mistake. When mixing the topping, instead of dividing the 1 & 1/3 coconut, I poured the full amount into the topping mixture. It was no great loss; it just made it richer with coconut. I still topped it with unmeasured amount of coconut.
*As always, I toasted the pecans, which in my opinion brings out the pecan flavor.
COCONUT BARS
1 (18.5 oz.) white cake mix
¼ cup butter or margarine, softened
¼ cup sweetened coconut flakes
*¼ cup chopped pecans
2 large eggs
TOPPING:
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup sweetened coconut flakes, DIVIDED
*1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven 350○. Spray a 9 X 13 inch pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, stir together the crust ingredients and spread in the prepared cake pan. In a small bowl, combine the milk egg, and vanilla. Beat well. Fold in 1 cup of the coconut and the pecans. Spread evenly over the crust in the pan. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/3 cup coconut. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown.
TIP: This tip is unrelated to the above recipe but I wanted to share it with you. I have had several mounds of ant beds springing up in my yard recently. I guess the ants are storing food for the winter. I usually keep a container of ant killer to sprinkle over the top of these mounds.
This particular day, I went to get my ant killer and discovered I was out. Then I recalled something I had read. To get rid of ant beds, sprinkle cornmeal over the top of the mound. I understand the ants cannot completely digest the cornmeal and they die. It took a bit longer but it did work. My sister-in-law, Ava McWhorter, told me uncooked grits work as well.