Lemon Coconut Bars

Luscious Coconut Lemon Bars - Still to try

 To start they have a buttery shortbread crust (yum!) with a sweet & tart lemon filling, then sprinkled with coconut! Do I have your attention?! I thought so. So, here we go...let's get these delightful bars in the oven!

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A delicate buttery crust with a sweet & tart filling and topped with a generous sprinkling of coconut!

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For the crust: Put the flour, cold butter (cubed) and the confectioners sugar into a food processor. Pulse for 10-15 seconds, or until the butter is pea-sized.

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It should look similar to this.

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Pour the crust mixture into a sprayed 9" x 13" baking pan. Tip: Cover with wax paper (to keep it off your hands) and press until even and firm.

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Place in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 15 minutes. Note: Crust will not be completely baked.

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Whip up the lemon filling ingredients.

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 I used my new Bobby Flay Rasp Grater to zest the lemon. Tip: Always zest the lemon before juicing them, because it's very difficult to zest the lemons once they're juiced.

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Pour the lemon filling mixture over the hot crust and sprinkle with the coconut. If you don't care for coconut, leave it out and dust (sprinkle) cooled bars with confectioners sugar instead.

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Place in the preheated 350 degree F oven for an additional 20-25 minutes, or until the filling doesn't jiggle and the coconut is light golden brown.

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I think you'll love these luscious lemon coconut bars. We took these to a dinner and everyone enjoyed them!

Luscious Coconut Lemon Bars

For the Crust

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached or all-purpose flour

1 cup butter, very cold & cubed

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place all ingredients into a food processor and pulse for 10-15 seconds, or until the butter is pea-sized.

Pour crust mixture into a sprayed 9" x 13" baking pan.

Place a piece of wax paper over the mixture and press until even and firm. Tip: Cover with wax paper (to keep it off your hands) and press until even and firm.

Place in a preheated 350 degrees F oven and bake for 15 minutes. Note: Crust will not be completely baked.

For the Lemon Coconut Filling

Ingredients:

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup fresh or concentrated lemon juice (approximately juice of 2 lemons)

1 tablespoon lemon zest

3/4 cups coconut
* 3-4 tablespoons confectioners sugar, if omitting coconut

Instructions:

Place all ingredients, except for the coconut into a mixing bowl. Tip: Always zest the lemon before juicing them, because it's very difficult to zest the lemons once they are juiced. 

Beat on low until blended and then on medium speed for 3 minutes.

Pour the filling over the hot crust and sprinkle the coconut. * If you don't care for coconut, leave it out and dust (sprinkle) cooled bars with confectioners sugar instead.

Place in the preheated 350 degrees F oven and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes, or until the filling doesn't jiggle and the coconut is light golden brown.

Servings: 24 bars

This recipe is also featured on Wow Us Wednesdays and Fluster's Creative Muster Wednesdays blog hops!

Let me know if you try these lemon bars, I would love to hear your sweet comments!

Moist Vanilla Cake with Cream cheese whipped cream frosting

Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Cream Frosting

Recipe from http://www.perrysplate.com/2009/05/vanilla-cake-with-strawberry-cream-frosting.html
http://www.perrysplate.com/2009/05/vanilla-cake-with-strawberry-cream-frosting.html

Ingredients:

Frosting:
2 8-oz packages of cream cheese, room temperature
1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 c powdered sugar
1/2 c seedless strawberry jam
3/4 c chilled heavy whipping cream
Cake:
3 c cake flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 c sugar
1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
7 large eggs
2 T vanilla extract
1 c sour cream
6 T plus 1/3 c seedless strawberry jam
2 1/4 lbs strawberries, hulled, sliced (about 6 cups), divided

Directions:

For the frosting, beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until smooth. You'll probably want to use an electric mixer for this so you don't end up with lumps. Stop every now and then to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in sugar, then jam. Beat cream in a separate, chilled, bowl until peaks form. Fold whipped cream into frosting. Cover; chill for a couple of hours until it's firm enough to spread.
For the cake, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans with 2-inch high sides. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add sour cream, and beat for 30 seconds. Add flour mixture in three additions, beating to blend after each addition. Divide batter into prepared pans.
Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 50-60 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the edges of the pans, then turn cakes out onto a rack to cool completely. (You may even want to refrigerate them for a couple of hours to make this next step easier.)
Using a serrated knife, divide each layer in half horizontally. Place one half, cake side down, on a cake plate. Spread 2 T of strawberry jam over the cake, then spread 3/4 c of the frosting over the jam. Arrange 3/4 c of the sliced strawberries on top of the frosting in a single layer. Repeat two more times with cake layer, jam, frosting, and strawberries. Top with remaining cake layer, cut side down. Spread two cups of frosting over the top and sides of the cake in a thin layer, then frost with remaining frosting. Stir remaining jam to loosen, then spoon teaspoonfuls onto the top and sides of the cake. Use the back of a spoon to swirl jam decoratively into the frosting.
Makes 12 servings.

Nat's Notes:
1. As you can see, I used a 9x13 cake pan and did three layers instead of four. This makes a LOT of cake. (Which seems to justify the pound of butter (between the cake and the frosting) and 7 eggs, no?) It fed well over 20 people at Sophie's party. It does take longer to bake that way. I think I baked it for an hour and 5 minutes or so. Begin the toothpick tests at around 55 minutes, though.
2. Because I decorated her cake, I didn't swirl jam into the frosting.

 I think it’s one of the moistest vanilla cakes I’ve ever had that wasn’t a pound cake. The frosting was fluffy from the whipped cream and had a hint of strawberry cream cheese flavor. After we refrigerated the leftovers and ate it the next day we decided that it was even better chilled.

Notes: Comments from readers: Frosting too slippery and runny. need to put unflavoured gelatin in whipping cream. Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit. original recipe uses 9 inch round pans.