Coconut Dream Bars

Posted on June 29, 2008 by bakingblonde

I love coconut, almost as much as I love Peanut Butter. I like how coconut rovides a de th o! !lavor and hearty te"ture to baked goods. #he icture may look !amiliar to those who !re$uent my blog, but I assure you these are new, but very similar to the Blonde %agic bars I made a while ago. I whi ed these u &aturday night as I was asked to make a dessert !or a !riend's wedding shower this ast weekend. (nowing she loves everything coconut I decided to try a reci e I have had saved !or $uite a while. #hese bars are so $uick and easy to throw together and they use ingredients you usually have on hand. #hey are a good basic reci e but you could )a** them u by adding toasted nuts, cho ed #o!!ee ieces or chocolate chi s +I did not add the chocolate chi s as called !or in the original reci e because I was asked to bring a non,chocolate dessert.. warning however, these bars are really really sweet so you may want to reduce some o! the sugar in the !illing i! you are adding a !airl amount o! chocolate or candy. .!ter tasting these I wonder how a little lemon/lime )uice in the coconut to ing +along with some toasted ecanswould have been, I may try that the ne"t time i! I don't add chocolate or candy. 0eedless to say, my !riend loved these bars and I en)oyed them as well. 1hat I en)oyed the most about these bars, however, was the brown sugar shortbread like crust. It was so yummy and light and a welcomed change !rom the usual graham cracker crust o! the other dessert bars at the shower. I !elt the ratio o! crust to to ing was too small and not sturdy enough !or the to ing unless the bars were cut small +maybe not a bad things since they were so sweet, but with the addition o! chi s/candy/nuts I don't know i! they would have held u even cut small-. 0e"t time I think I will make 2 2/2 times the crust mi"ture and bake a !ew minutes longer be!ore adding the coconut to ing which may air down the sweetness o! the coconut mi"ture, es ecially i! adding chi s or candy. .ll in all, a good reci e that can get better with a !ew tweaks so !eel !ree to make them your own. I am e"cited to lay around with the reci e a bit because I think it has otential to be a $uick go,to versitile dessert. I rate these bars a 7 Coconut Dream Bars ada ted !rom 3eci e*aar 2 2/2 cu s !lour 2 cu s brown sugar, !irmly acked +divided-

2/2 cu butter, so!tened slightly 4 large eggs 2 teas oon baking owder 2 teas oon vanilla 2/5 teas oon salt 2 2/2 cu s sweetened !laked coconut 2 2/2 cu s semi,sweet chocolate chi s +o tional- or milk chocolate chi s +o tionalPreheat oven to 46078. 9ine a 9:24 an with !oil. & ray lightly with P.%.

;sing low s eed on mi"er, combine !lour, 2/2 cu o! the brown sugar and butter until mi"ture resembles sand. ;sing lightly greased !inger ti s, ress the mi"ture into bottom o! re ared an. Bake !or 26 minutes. 1hile crust is baking, mi" together the remaining brown sugar with eggs until )ust blended. &tir in remaining ingredients. 3emove crust !rom oven when time is u and evenly s read coconut mi"ture over artially baked crust. Bake !or 20 to 26 minutes or until golden brown. <ool com letely and cut into s$uares. +=o this or they will be messy>>-