Nanaimo Bars

A friend brought these yummy bars over the other night and they were a fun, new treat.  I had never had anything like these before, which is always a plus.  Here's the recipe.  Thanks again Liz!

From Liz T.

Crust:

3/4 cup margarine/butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs beaten
1 1/2 cups coconut
3 cups graham crackers finely crushed  (usually about 2 packages)
3/4 cup walnuts (optional, I never add them)


Melt butter in sauce pan, add sugar, cocoa, vanilla and eggs. Cook stiring until mixture thickens.
Remove from heat and stir in coconut, graham crackers and nuts.
reserve about 1/3 cup for topping.  Press firmly into 9X13 pan (I butter the pan first)
Refrigerate at least one hour.


Filling

1/2 cup margarine/butter -creamed
4 tbsp milk
4 tbsp instant vanilla pudding
3 1/2 to 4 cups powdered sugar

Cream butter, add pudding sugar and milk, blend til fluffy. If too thick add more milk. Spread over crust and top with reserved topping. Refrigerate at least 30 mins or until firm.


My alterations:
I used butter instead of maragarine. I crushed 3 packages of graham crackers and added a little extra coconut. For the filling I just used the whole package of pudding, which was only a tsp or 2 more than 4tbsp's and the full 4 cups of pwd sugar. I also ended up adding at least another tbsp of milk, maybe even two, I didn't measure. 
After it was all put together I tossed it in the freezer for 20 mins to do a quick set.

A lot of other recipes I've seen don't use a crumb topping, they melt chocolate and spread that across the top.