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Coconut Cranberry Bars
When tasters scanned the holiday cookies that readers brought in for final judging of our annual Holiday Cookie Contest, more than one looked at Donna Tinley's Coconut Cranberry Bars and jotted down the word "festive." When they tasted the cookie, other descriptions came to mind: "Rich." "Complex flavors." "Nice array of tastes and textures."
But when they picked the bar cookie as the winner in the contest, they didn't know one thing: The recipe is exceptionally simple.
Tinley, who lives in Beavercreek and works at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, is also the photographer for the Beavercreek High School championship girls' basketball teams. And she is now a two-time winner of the contest. She won in 2002 with another bar cookie, an Apricot Bar.
The pressure was on when she decided to enter this year's contest, and she tested three kinds before settling on this one. Cookie bakers will recognize it as a variation on the classic Eagle Brand Magic Cookie Bars, with additions of dried cranberries for color and white chocolate chips for sweet richness.
Makes 3 dozen
1 1/2 cups graham cracker
crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups vanilla or white
chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
1 14-ounce can sweetened
condensed milk
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup pecan halves
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter. Press into a greased 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking pan.
In a medium bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Spread over the crust. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, until the edges are golden brown.
Cool on a wire rack and cut into bars.
Take the advice of our tasters and serve them with a big glass of milk.
