Coconut Lemon Crumble Bars

Coconut Lemon Crumble Bars. A 35+ year old family recipe that combines coconut and tangy lemon filling in a buttery crumble bar cookie. Freezes quite well too.

Coconut Lemon Crumble Bars

Originally published Dec 10, 2008. 

These coconut lemon crumble bars come from a very old family recipe of mine. However, I have often seen them in local bakeries across Newfoundland.

Fresh lemon makes all the difference to the filling.

I have often seen versions without the coconut but we always had them with coconut in our family. Many people use a packaged lemon pie filling in their versions but I like to make my own from scratch.

This recipe works well with other citrus fruits like orange and lime as well.

Fine or medium cut, desiccated (dried) coconut is best in this recipe.

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.

Coconut Lemon Crumble Bars

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If you liked this recipe you may also want to check out even more decades old recipes for some of Newfoundland’s favourite cookies and cookie bars here.

Newfoundland Christmas Cookie Recipes

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Coconut Lemon Crumble Bars

Yield: 36 cookie bars

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Coconut Lemon Crumble Bars - a 35+ year old family recipe that combines coconut and tangy lemon filling in a buttery crumble bar cookie. Freezes quite well too.

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Ingredients

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• 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

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• 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.

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.

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The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

Recommended Products

Rock Recipes a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.

• 
  Wilton  9 X 13-Inch Oblong Cake Pan, Multipack of 2
• 
  HIC Harold Import Mrs. Anderson's Professional Half Sheet Baking and Cooling Rack, Heavyweight Chrome, 16.5-Inch by 11.75-Inch, Silver
• 
  Rock Recipes: The Best Food From My Newfoundland Kitchen

Nutrition Information

Yield

36

Serving Size

36 cookie bars
Amount Per Serving Calories 173Total Fat 8gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 42mgSodium 89mgCarbohydrates 25gFiber 1gSugar 15gProtein 2g

The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

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