Special Treat No-Bake Squares

Crust:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3/4 cup flaked coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  Filling:
  
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup powdered sugar
  Glaze:
  
• 1 2-ounce dark sweet or bittersweet chocolate bar, broken into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 teaspoon butter

Instructions:

Line a 9-inch baking pan with foil and set aside. First make the crust: Combine 1/2 cup butter, sugar, cocoa, egg, and salt in a medium saucepan. Cook it over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mix thickens. It will take about 2 minutes. Remove it from the heat and stir in the graham cracker crumbs, coconut, and pecans. (See note about this part at the bottom!) Press evenly into the prepared baking pan to become the bottom crust.

For the filling, beat 1/3 cup softened butter, the cream cheese, and the vanilla until it's smooth. (It helps to use a mixer for this so it is not lumpy.) Beat in the powdered sugar. Spread it over the crust evenly, and then refrigerate this pan for 30 minutes.

See the note about this part too! To make the glaze, put the butter and the candy bar pieces into a sealable plastic food bag, and seal it. Put it in the microwave and keep microwaving it at short intervals (30 seconds or less), turning the bag over each time, until the mixture is melted. Now knead the bag until smooth, cut a corner off the bag, and drizzle the chocolate over the brownies in a pretty criss-cross pattern. Refrigerate it until firm, about 20 minutes. Remove from pan and cut into squares!

NOTE: I don't personally like coconut or nuts of any kind in my brownies. If you don't like one or both of these things like me, I suggest using extra graham cracker crumbs to make up for it, because if you don't add roughly the same amount of dry stuff to the wet batter you are not going to have a crust. Add another 1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs to the recipe if you don't use either coconut or pecans. Also, if you don't want to go through all that balderdash with microwave melting for the glaze, you can just use a store-bought chocolate syrup like they put on ice cream, or as a variation, try caramel topping. These are great!