Ever since Kate shared this recipe for the best-ever Lemon Bars, people have been asking if you can make them with lime juice instead. I finally decided to try it myself and figured if I was using lime, I may as well toss in some coconut, too! The verdict? To be honest, once all is said and done, lime and lemon taste very similar in this recipe! But I still loved this and it’s good to know you can use both. The coconut adds more texture than flavor, which I love. I use regular sweetened, shredded coconut in the crust, and then toasted coconut on top. If you want coconut flavor, you could even add a little extract to the filling mixture; I’m going to try that next time!
These start out just like the lemon bars, with a quick shortbread crust. I added in just shy of a cup of coconut right along with the dry ingredients.
I always use a cheese grater and grate my cold butter (straight-from-the-fridge cold) into the dry ingredients. Makes it super easy to crumble up! Press this mixture into a 9×13 pan and bake in the oven.
While it’s cooking, you can mix up your filling of lime juice, eggs, sugar, flour, and baking powder.
Once that comes out of the oven you’ll want to let it cool completely.
Then pour over a sweet and tart glaze
And sprinkle on some toasted coconut while the glaze is still wet so it sticks.
You’ll want to refrigerate these until completely chilled, but then let them come to room temperature before serving (which really doesn’t take too long). If you serve them chilled, the crust is quite chewy and a little hard. When it comes to room temp, it’s soft and tender. These are a fun twist if you’re wanting to try something a little different!
Coconut Lime Bars
Description
A twist on the classic lemon bar using lime juice instead, and adding chewy coconut to the crust and toasted coconut to the top!
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 c. all-purpose flour (lightly spooned into the measuring cup and leveled with a knife)
- 3/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut
- 1/2 c. powdered sugar
- 1 c. (2 sticks) butter
Filling
- 4 large eggs
- 1/4 cup freshly-squeezed lime juice
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups white sugar
Glaze
- 1 c. powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons strained freshly squeezed lime juice
Topping
- 1/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut, toasted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray a 9×13″ pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. Whisk together the flour, powdered sugar, and coconut and then cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture is crumbly. Tip: use a cheese grater to grate cold butter into your flour mixture. Lightly press into the pan and bake for 15-20 minutes or until light golden around the edges. Remove from oven.
- During the last few minutes of the shortbread’s baking time, mix the eggs, lime juice, flour, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed for three minutes. The mixture should be frothy and very, very pale yellow. Pour the mixture over the warm crust and then return the pan to the oven for another 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden brown on top. You might want to check the bars at 17-18 minutes to make sure the top isn’t getting too dark.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool completely. When the bars are cool, whisk together the glaze ingredients until smooth and then gently spread over the bars. Refrigerate for at least two hours and then cut into squares before serving.
Notes
- In place of cooking corn on skillet, you can alternately grill corn on bbq grill or grill pan and then cut off the cob.
Questions & Reviews
I love all things lemon and lime! I used key limes and unsweetened coconut as I don’t like overly sweet things. I also put powdered ginger in crust and homemade stem ginger in filling and put coconut in filling too. They can out wonderful! I didn’t do the glaze at all.
I made these for the Fourth of July and everyone raved about them! Love love love. I’ve never made a lemon bar that I truly loved (let aloneness those first ones that smelled like Yellowstone -yikes!) so I was pleased that these a) turned out and b) tasted amazing. Thanks for the fun variation!
These are delicious!
Mine turned out gooey on top even though it was browned and sat in the fridge for 3 hours. Is this the consistency they are meant to be? I was just curious as to whether I under cooked them or not.
Yes! They are just like traditional lemon bars 🙂
This looks yummy.
I love the fact when you print out the recipe you can chose font size and whether you want the picture etc, saves on paper!
Have you ever tried using the zest from your citrus in the filling for these bars? I wonder if that would make the lime flavor more pronounced? I may have to try it!
Oh, my gosh, you guys! What about a CORNMEAL shortbread crust? Cornmeal and lime? (The note about grilling corn made me do it.)
do you think they will freeze well? thanks
P
I tried making lime bars years ago. I used brown sugar, which probably helped them taste more different, and they were really good. Coconut should make them even more fun!
This looks like a neat twist! I’m not big on coconut but I bet they would be very popular on a sweet tray!
Side note: I think a different recipe hijacked the notes – I don’t see corn anywhere in the square ingredients 🙂
These look really good. I don’t think I’ve ever had bars like this with a glaze. Will be fun to try.
I don’t think the note about grilling the corn applies to this particular recipe though 🙂