Shelly's Recipe

MIDSUMMER NIGHT DREAM BARS

Category: Bars

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
16 whole graham crackers, crushed
2 cups whole almonds
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
3 cups sweetened flaked coconut
14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with heavy duty aluminum foil, making sure that the foil is tucked into all the corners and that there is at least 1 inch overhanging the top of the pan on all sides.

Combine the melted butter and crushed graham crackers in a medium bowl and stir until all the crumbs are moistened. Sprinkle the mixture across the bottom of the pan and press with your fingertips into an even layer.

Place the almonds in a food processor and pulse 3 to 5 times to coarsely chop.

Scatter the almonds evenly over the crumbs. Layer both chocolates over the almonds. Sprinkle the coconut over the chocolate chips and press with the back of a large spoon to compact the ingredients. Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk over the coconut.

Bake until the coconut is golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Let the bars cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. (The bars can be frozen at this point.)

Grasping the overhanging foil on either side of the pan, lift out the bars and place them on a cutting board. Cut them into 36 pieces and peel them from the foil. The bars will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Makes about 36 bars.

Note: To freeze, remove the cooled, uncut bars from the pan by grasping the overhanging foil and pulling it up. Peel away the foil and wrap the bars in a double layer of plastic and then a layer of heavy duty foil. Freeze for up to 2 weeks. Defrost on the countertop for several hours before cutting into bars.