Coconut Bars

Easy coconut bars have a brown sugar shortbread crust topped with soft coconut filling. Just the right amount of sweetness and coconut flavor!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 50

Cooling Time (estimate) 20

Total Time 1 30

Servings bars

Calories 184kcal

Author Toni Dash

Ingredients

Crust

2 cups all-purpose flour regular or gluten-free measure-for-measure flour blend
1 cup light brown sugar packed
½ tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter melted

Filling

3 eggs
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
½ cup all-purpose flour regular or gluten-free measure-for-measure flour blend
¼ cup light brown sugar packed
¼ cup unsalted butter melted
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish with non-stick food spray. Line the pan with parchment paper (with some overhanging the sides of the pan) for easier removal (optional).

Crust

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, and salt.
Using a spoon or spatula, stir in the melted butter until well combined.
Press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan.
Bake for 15 minutes, until the bottom is golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes.

Filling

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sweetened condensed milk, flour, brown sugar, melted butter, almond extract, vanilla extract, and salt.
Fold in half of the sweetened and unsweetened coconut.
Pour the mixture over the cooled crust. Sprinkle the remaining coconut over the top.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top is lightly golden brown.
Cool completely before removing the bars from the pan to cut them (if having lined the pan with parchment paper) or cutting them in the pan.
Don’t cut warm.

Notes

Variations

Mini chocolate chips. Add ½ cup mini chocolate chips to batter and another ½ cup mini chocolate chips on top before baking.

Almonds. Add ½ cup almond pieces, slivers, or slices to the top.

Dried cranberries. Add ½ cup chopped dried sweetened cranberries to the batter and another ½ cup chopped dried cranberries to the top.

How to Store

Once cooled store in an airtight container at room temperature (up to 4 days) or in the refrigerator (up to 1 week). Store in a single layer or add a piece of parchment paper or wax paper between layers.

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