Almond Joy Bars

These almond coconut bars get much praise by anyone who eats them! They are simple to make and absolutely scrumptious! The crust calls for 2 cups of chocolate cookie crumbs. I use one 7.5oz box of Annie's Chocolate Bunny Grahams ground in the food processor into crumbs. You can also use chocolate graham crackers.

Crust:
2 cups of chocolate cookie crumbs
1 stick of butter, melted
1/4 c. sugar

Filling:
2 cups of sweetened flaked coconut
1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup of chopped almonds (I have used also slivered and sliced- they are all good)

Topping:
2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F

In a medium bowl, combine cookie crumbs, melted butter and sugar. Press mixture into a well greased 11X7" baking pan to form the crust. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely!



While crust is baking, combine coconut, sweetened condensed milk & almonds. Evenly and gently spread filling onto cooled crust. If the crust isn't cool, it can pull up and mix into the filling as you are spreading it. Bake for 17 minutes.

Take bars out of the oven and immediately sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Turn the oven off and put bars back in for an additional 2 minutes. Take bars out and immediately spread chocolate over the filling. Let the bars cool for about 30 minutes on the counter.

Take a butter knife and run it around all the edges of the bars loosening any pieces of coconut that are sticking to the pan. Transfer bars into the refrigerator and cool until the chocolate is set (about 30 minutes to an hour). Take the bars out of the refrigerator and cut them directly in the pan and serve. OR run a butter knife around the sides of the pan again and turn the whole pan upside down on a clean cutting board. Give the pan a few good thumps and the bars should fall out whole. Then using a large knife cut the bars evenly into 2 inch squares.

Serve at room temperature. Enjoy!