Lemon Coconut Shortbread Bars

Easy dessert of lemon coconut shortbread bars for a casual nibble or throw in the picnic basket.

Yes, I know I promised another recipe for my Roasted Balsamic Tomatoes next. But I've been thinking about posting desserts on Fridays, and here we are at Friday already. I swear yesterday was Monday, but somehow I slammed through TuesdayWednesdayThursday in the time it takes to make an omelet.

When I was in school, Friday was dessert day. It was one of the only days we weren't on a strict schedule with dishes due up at specific times for judging.  Instead, Fridays were spread out like a blanket for a picnic, and the pace was, relatively speaking, more leisurely with excited chatter in the kitchen sprinkled with plans for the upcoming weekend.

Each Friday had a focus. We might all make a variety of custard dishes one week, and candies the next. Piping meringues to make baskets for strawberries was a very fun day; my first attempt at constructing and decorating a sad-looking Princess cake a little less successful. At the end of the day, our projects were placed on a long wooden table to loud swoons. Finally, soaring on a sugar high from all the tasting, we split up the desserts to share (or hoard) over the weekend. For me, it was a great way to end a stressful week of trying to keep up with all the students who were soooo much younger than I.

Ever since, Fridays conjure up images of dessert. And it's so practical, when you rationalize think about it. It gets you all set up for any weekend plans you might have with friends and family, or just by yourself.  So I'm kicking off this little Friday Desserts series with these little lemon shortbread bars. They're a great ending for a casual dinner or BBQ, or the perfect addition to a picnic you might have planned for this holiday weekend. If you don't want them right away, just cut them into squares and freeze them. When you're ready to eat one, or all of them,  just thaw on the counter for 30 minutes, or zap in the microwave for 20 seconds (depending on the strength of your microwave).

Tomorrow, without fail, I promise to post another recipe for my Roasted Balsamic Tomatoes. But for today, I just want to relax with these little lemon treats and a great book I'm reading.

Cook's Notes:

• The recipe calls for baking the base first, but I've done it several times now without doing it. The consistency is a little more tender if you don't do a little prebaking, but it will definitely work.
• I added ½ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves sprinkled over the lemon curd in my recent versions, with great success.
• The best way to know it's done is to watch for a slight darkening of the crust around the edges. When that happens, I pull it from the oven. It will firm up as it cools. I don't remove the bars from the pan until they cool. This helps to retain their shape.
• It might not seem that there's a great deal of coconut oil in the recipe, but the lemon and thyme is very easily overwhelmed by the coconut flavor, and I was looking for a hint of coconut while allowing the lemon to shine through.
• I used a jar of lemon curd for this recipe, but you can absolutely make your own!

I hope you enjoy these, and have a wonderful holiday weekend!!

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Lemon-Coconut Shortbread Bars

Easy dessert of lemon shortbread bars made with coconut oil, for a casual nibble or throw in a picnic basket.

Prep Time25 mins

Cook Time50 mins

Cooling time25 mins

Total Time1 hr 40 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Any

Keyword: lemon coconut shortbread squares

Servings: 16

Calories: 149.4kcal

Author: The Wimpy Vegetarian

Equipment

• 8" X 8" Baking Dish
• Parchment paper or aluminum foil
• Food Processor
• Bench Scraper
• Cooling rack

Ingredients

Shortbread Base

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil or butter, if you prefer
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons rice flour
• 1 pinch kosher salt

Lemon Filling

• ⅓ cup of your favorite lemon curd

Shortbread Topping

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ tablespoons rice flour
• 1 pinch kosher salt

Instructions

• Line an 8″ X 8″ square baking pan with parchment paper or foil. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.
• Combine the Shortbread Base ingredients in the bowl of a food processor, fitted with a blade. Pulse until it comes together into a ball of dough.

  Alternatively, use a pastry blender by hand.
• Press the dough into the prepared baking dish, and flatten to evenly cover the bottom. Be sure to work the dough quickly with your fingers.

  If the dough becomes sticky, lightly flour your fingers. If the dough becomes too soft to work with, transfer it to the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
• Dock the dough by poking it with the tines of a fork about 20 times. There will be a lot of fork holes all over the dough, to keep it from bubbling up during baking.
• Slide the dish into the oven, and bake for 25 minutes, or until the dough begins to firm on the edges.
• While the Base bakes, mix together the ingredients for the Shortbread Topping in the food processor, and wrap in plastic. Place in the refrigerator until the Shortbread Base is finished baking and cooled.
• Remove the Shortbread Base from the oven, and cool. Increase the oven temperature to 375˚ F.

  Spread the lemon curd evenly across the top once the Base is cooled.
• Remove the Shortbread Topping from the refrigerator and tear into pieces. Flatten the pieces with the heel of your hand on a workspace, scrape them up using a bench scraper, and arrange on top of the lemon curd.

  It’s fine to overlap the Topping in places, leaving little openings to allow the curd to ooze through during baking. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes.
• Cool for 5 minutes in the pan before removing to a cooling rack. This is a very tender cookie bar, and will harden slightly during cooling, making it easy to handle.

Notes

• • The recipe calls for baking the base first, but I've done it several times now without doing it. The consistency is a little more tender if you don't do a little prebaking, but it will definitely work.

• • I added ½ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves sprinkled over the lemon curd in my recent versions, with great success.

• • The best way to know it's done is to watch for a slight darkening of the crust around the edges. When that happens, I pull it from the oven. It will firm up as it cools. I don't remove the bars from the pan until they cool. This helps to retain their shape.

• • It might not seem that there's a great deal of coconut oil in the recipe, but the lemon and thyme is very easily overwhelmed by the coconut flavor, and I was looking for a hint of coconut while allowing the lemon to shine through.

• • I used a jar of lemon curd for this recipe, but you can absolutely make your own!

Nutrition

Calories: 149.4kcal | Carbohydrates: 15.6g | Protein: 1.2g | Fat: 9.4g | Saturated Fat: 6.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 18.8mg | Sodium: 20.1mg | Potassium: 12.9mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 7.5g | Vitamin A: 218.7IU | Calcium: 3.6mg | Iron: 0.4mg

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