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.