A Month of Christmas Baking: Coconut Lemon Crumble Bars #FoodwaysFriday

Coconut Lemon Crumble Bars. Photo courtesy Rock Recipes.

This is the final post for the month of Christmas baking series. My freezer is filled with cookies and Christmas is only two days away!

These squares are a twist on the classic date square which we all know and love. Lemon is something I had never really associated with Christmastime, but other people have told me a cookie like this is a staple in their homes for the holidays. So here is the recipe (from Rock Recipes):

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 cups dried coconut medium cut
• pinch salt
• 1 cup butter cut in small pieces

FOR THE LEMON FILLING

• 1/3 cup cake flour
• 1/3 cup corn starch
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 5 egg yolks slightly beaten
• Zest of 2 large or 3 small lemons, very finely chopped
• Juice of 2 large or 3 small lemons
• 2 cups water
• 3 tbsp butter
• pinch salt

Instructions

1. TO MAKE THE LEMON FILLING combine the corn starch, salt, cake flour, sugar and water in a medium saucepan.
2. Cook over medium-low heat until the mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
3. Pour about 1/2 cup of the thickened mixture over the beaten egg yolks and whisk together quickly. This tempers the egg yolks so that they do not scramble.
4. Pour this mixture back into the pot and whisk it in quickly. Return the pot to the heat and stir constantly for a few minutes until the mixture is thick and evenly smooth.
5. Whisk in the lemon juice and zest and remove from the heat.
6. Finally whisk in the butter and set aside to cool while you prepare the crumble mixture.
7. FOR THE CRUMBLE mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, coconut and salt.
8. Using your hands or a pastry blender cut in the butter until the it is completely incorporated into the dry ingredients.
9. Press half of the crumb mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch well greased baking pan. Pour the lemon filling evenly over the bottom crumbs. Gently sprinkle the remaining crumbs over the lemon filling and press down gently.
10. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 40 - 45 minutes or until light golden brown in color. Cool completely in the pan before cutting into squares and serving.

Recipe Notes

If you plan to freeze these cookie bars, for all crumble type cookies, I always thaw them on a wire cake rack and never in a closed container. There's a lot of humidity in some freezers that gets trapped inside and can start to make baked goods soggy as they thaw. My method always avoids that problem for me.

Enjoy and have a very Merry Christmas!

-Katie Harvey