Meyer lemon Bars with a Coconut Crust

It's been so loooong since I have added to this blog that the settings have all changed!  Please excuse me if any mistakes appear...

It feels like *almost* summer in Northern California, and citrus is appearing everywhere.  I especially love lemon bars, and I saw a recipe for lemon bars with a coconut crust on Pinterest last week.  Needless to say I had to RUN to the store for lemons!!

Retro juicer from my mother-in-law Ruthann

Toasted coconut

Zested lemon rind

Cold butter cut into chunks

Mixture

Finished product

Yum!

 

 

 

Meyer Lemon Bars with a Coconut Crust

For the crust:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup (be generous) shredded coconut, toasted and cooled
• 12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) chilled butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

For the filling:

• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3 Tbsp lemon zest
• 1/2 meyer lemon juice
• 2 tsp all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degress
2. Butter a 9 x 13 glass baking dish and line with parchment paper
3. Combine flour, sugar, salt, and coconut in a food processor; pulse.  Add cubed butter and pulse until mixture resembles fine meal and begins to clump together.
4. Press into prepared baking dish, and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
5. While crust is baking, prepare filling.
6. In a clean food processor bowl, combine sugar, eggs, lemon zest and juice, flour, baking powder, and salt.  On low, process until well mixed and smooth.
7. Pour filling over warm crust, return to oven, and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes, or until filling is just set.
8. Cool completely and top with powdered sugar if desired. 


Helpful Hints:

• Any thin-skinned lemon will do.  In fact, I don't know what kind of lemons I used; they were the only ones the grocer store had. 
• My food processor is too small to handle the crust mixture, so I used an old fashioned pastry thingy. 
• No need to use the food processor for the egg mixture; I just used a wire whisk. 

Tarte aux Pommes

One of my favorite desserts to make is an apple tart, or a tarte aux pommes, and the best thing about a tarte aux pommes (aside from the taste) is that it requires only 2 or 3 teaspoons of sugar to make! 

First, make a crust, or a pate brisee, following this recipe:

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/all_butter_crust_for_sweet_and_savory_pies_pate_brisee/

*Note that the butter does not need to be cut into chunks before frozen, but it does need to be frozen!

Second, coarsely chop 2 medium sized apples (I like Granny Smith) and sautee the chunks in a teaspoon of butter, a teaspoon or two of sugar, and a dash of brandy or cognac, if you have it. 

*Note that if you have a little apple butter lying around you can cut the sugar in the apples and spread a little apple butter on the crust before adding the apples.

Third, fill the crust with the apple chunks and arrange thin slices of one apple (I like Fuji) in concentric circles on top. 

*Note that you can cut thinner apple slices if the skin of the apple quarters faces up. 

Bake for 30 minutes in a pre-heated oven set to 350 degrees. Enjoy!

-M