Dream Bars

Fuzz is home sick, so today’s recipe is made from things I had around the house – pecans, coconut and brown sugar. Unfortunately, the recipe I followed was from a slightly dated cookbook and the pan size was sketchy. The bars came out tasty, but were thin and kind of chewy.  I did what I should have done sooner and went to the Internet for a more up-to-date version.

Here’s a recipe originally developed by Kraft and featured on a back of the box recipe site.  For my version, I used pecans instead of walnuts.

Coconut Dream Bars

Crust:
1 cup (140 grams) flour all purpose flour
1/4 cup (50 grams) firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup (75 grams) softened salted butter**

Filling:
2 eggs
3/4 cup (150 grams) firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup (35 grams flour
1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) baking powder
1 1/3 cups (about) shredded sweetened coconut (angel flake)
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and grease a 9 inch square metal pan. I lined mine with foil first.

For the crust, combine 1 cup flour and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Add butter and mix until well blended. Press into pan and bake for 15 minutes.

For the filling, beat eggs until thick and light in color. Gradually beat in 3/4 cup brown sugar and continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy. Mix 1/4 cup flour with the baking powder. Fold into egg mixture. Mix in coconut, vanilla and nuts. Spread over baked crust in pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes longer or until lightly browned. Cool. Cut into bars.

Makes about 2 dozen

Adapted from Back of the Box Recipes and Kraft