Spring Dessert - Coconut Cream

There's something about spring, and we've had enough warm days now to make it real, that says its time for a coconut dessert, the creamier the better. My personal favorite is Coconut cream pie, but that will be another blog, This is also the season of spring luncheons. Every women's group has a luncheon, bring a covered dish. This dessert recipe fits that perfectly - pretty, serves about 24, and with a light taste and rich texture.  If there are lots of desserts you'll probably have enough left to take home, too.
We don't know much about the coconut as we usually only see it in a bag as a shredded sweetened product. Occasionally our store will have whole coconuts, but most of us don't know what to do with them and don't want to bother with cracking the shell and shredding the meat. Coconuts grow in tropical climates, so the only places in the United States that produce coconuts are Hawaii and southern Florida. One trivia fact I found was that falling coconuts kill 150 people a year, ten times the number of people that are killed by sharks. Hearing that, I'm glad they don't grow in Kansas! We have enough things falling out of the sky in the spring.

Layered Coconut Cream Cheesecake Bars
84 vanilla wafers, divided
6 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese softened (I used the lite variety, saved a few calories)
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tub (8 oz.) whipped topping (again, the lite variety), divided
2 packages (3.4 oz. each) vanilla flavor instant pudding
2  1/2 cups cold milk
1 1/2 cups flaked coconut, toasted, divided
Crush 60 vanilla wafers, saving out 24 (each time I've made this I've only had 1 or 2 extra cookies to eat. They count those out well!) Mix crushed wafers with butter (food processor works well to crumble wafers and mix in butter). Press into the bottom of a 13x9-inch pan. Refrigerate while preparing filling.
Beat cream cheese and sugar with mixer (or food processor) until well blended. Whisk in 1 cup whipped topping. Carefully spread over crust. Stand reserved wafers around edges.
 Beat pudding mixes and milk with whisk in medium bowl 2 minutes. Stir in 1 cup whipped topping and 3/4 cup coconut; spread over cream cheese layer. Top with remaining whipped topping and coconut. Refrigerate 5 hours.
(to toast coconut, spread evenly in shallow pan and bake at 350 degrees for 7 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring frequently. Watch carefully, as coconut can burn easily!)