Coconut Macadamia Nut Bars

 I’ve been baking up these decadent Coconut Macadamia Nut Bars for years as part of the holiday cookie trays I distribute to friends and neighbors.  With a layer of shortbread topped with chewy coconut and nut filling, these bars are destined to become one of your favorite cookie bars!

Coconut Love

Macaroons, coconut cupcakes, coconut bars I love them all.  My love affair with coconut started as a girl.  My mom submitted a recipe for Mounds Bars for my first grade cookbook: think graham cracker crust with a chewy coconut middle and a chocolate topping. I’m going to have to blog about those yummy devils soon…

For Holidays or Just Because!

I always include something coconut with my holiday trays and this shortbread based bar is topped with a chewy, nutty coconut topping.  Whoops, the bars in my original post mine got a little dark (photo below).That’s what happens when you forget to reduce the oven temperature. It just means more edge pieces for me! They were still outstanding. Don’t wait till the holidays to bake up a batch of these coconut gems.

2010 photo

Coconut Macadamia Nut Bars

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Chewy coconut macadamia nut bars adapted from Gourmet magazine

• Author: Liz Berg
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hour 10 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
• Yield: 24 bars

Ingredients

Crust:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 sticks cold butter, cut into pieces
• 2/3 cup powdered sugar

Coconut topping::

• 1/2 half stick butter (1/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup canned coconut cream (I use Coco Lopez)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 2/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut
• 1 1/3 cup macadamia nuts, large pieces halved

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease or line 9 x 13-inch pan with nonstick foil.
2. In food processor, pulse together flour, 2 sticks of butter and powdered sugar till butter is the size of small peas and mixture resembles cornmeal. Pat into bottom of prepared pan (the dough will be crumbly). Bake 20 minutes.
3. Melt the half stick of butter in a saucepan. Remove from heat. Add brown sugar,and stir till dissolved. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Pour topping over crust. Reduce oven temperature to 325º and bake about 40-50 minutes till bars are lightly browned.
4. Cut into bars when cool. These freeze well.

Lambeau, our first pup, circa 2010

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