The recipe for Peanut Butter Coconut Bars is from one of my favorite cookbooks – the big yellow book from Gourmet, which was written with the concept of sorting through the magazine’s old recipes, selecting the best, re-testing them and reintroducing them. The book has never steered me wrong, so I was excited about making these even though all two of the reviewers on Epicurious said they were dry. In fact, I was looking forward to giving the recipe five forks and telling “Mandy in Virginia Beach” to take some baking lessons. But when I tasted the bars, I started to wish I had a big old can of condensed milk to pour over them. Mandy was right and “Shannon in Sacramento” wasn’t crazy.
I was kind of irritated, and went off to mope. A little later, I came back to photograph the bars before throwing them in the trash. But while taking the picture, I took another taste….and then another and another. Yes, they were kind of dry….but not really bad. I think I just wasn't hungry enough when I first tasted them, and I also think you need to be very careful with how you measure the flour or else they will be dry.
If you don't want to commit to a full 15x10 inch pan you can halve the recipe and bake the Coconut Peanut Bars in a 9 inch square pan.
My advice is to start with a half batch and see what you think.
Recipe
Peanut Butter Coconut Bars
Ingredients
- 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter (170 grams)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt plus an extra pinch
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, measured with a light hand (250 grams)
- 2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
- ½ cup chopped roasted peanuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 15x10 inch baking pan. If making a half batch, use a 9 inch square pan.
- Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in the peanut butter until blended, then beat in the egg, vanilla and salt.
- Add flour and stir until blended, then stir in coconut.
- Spread in the pan, then sprinkle peanuts on the top. Bake for about 18 to 22 minutes (maybe up to 25) or until skewer inserted comes out clean.
Notes
-- If eggs are room temperature, you won't have to beat (whisk) them quite as hard to mix them with the other ingredients and will probably end up whisking less air into the batter. In my experience, whisking or stirring ingredients rather than beating them usually makes a denser, less cakey, bar. these are not cakey at all.
Elyse says
Crumbly is fine by me. These look so delicious!
LilSis says
Believe it or not, I actually have coconut milk in my pantry, and leftover coconut in my fridge. I'm going to try these and will let ya know how they turn out! Thanks.
Lisa Ernst says
These look very good to me. I've always loved peanut butter and coconut as a combination. The only thing that would make these better (besides the suggestions for making them less dry) is to top them with chocolate chips!
snooky doodle says
these surely must be flavourful. Ha your post was very funny . enjoyed reading it 🙂
HeartofGlass says
Dark or light brown sugar instead of white sugar, perhaps?
I'd like to say leave out the coconut altogether, but I know I'm in a minority on that one... 😉
Louise says
I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who thought coconut and peanut together sounded slightly weird. How about agave nectar instead of the sugar? If I remember right, it would be 3/4 cup to replace a cup of sugar.
T. Martin says
I never thought of peanut butter and coconut as an exclusive flavor combination but I like Jennifer's idea of crumbling the bars onto something else that will provide the needed moisture balance.
Cathy - wheresmydamnanswer says
Now this is an interesting blend - I bet these ingredients play well in the sandbox together.
Katrina says
A & R--Ewweee! I would never be able to drink cond. milk. I do buy fat free cond. milk though, so it's healthy! 😉 bahhhaaaa
Virtual Vermonter says
I'm not sure that I've ever used coconut and peanut butter together before in a recipe. They look and sound great though - thanks!
Jennifer says
Crumble them onto of yogurt, icecream, in some cereal or topped on oatmeal! 🙂
Anna says
Well, I might try underbaking or maybe adding a little corn syrup in place of sugar...or golden syrup or maybe adding an extra egg yolk. They were just a little too crumbly.
Hmmmm. Since there's coconut in the bars, maybe a tablespoon or two of full-fat coconut milk?
LilSis says
Hi Anna,
They look really good to me! So, if you were to make them again, what would you change? I'm not good at knowing when and what you can substitute. PB and coconut sounds awesome to me. I love anything without chocolate, since I can't eat it. 🙁
bakingblonde says
coconut and PB are two of my fave flavors, but now sure how I feel about them together. Hmmm. maybe I will give them a try!
clumbsycookie says
Yes Katrina, drink it!
Janice says
Anna,
They look wonderful...hmm;-/
Glad to hear you are feeling better!
VeggieGirl says
Don't throw them out!! They look good to me 😀
dawn says
crumbly is good, good I say!
kelly says
Make 7 layer bars Katrina! They won't miss the 1 T you already used.
Anna says
Katrina, I think you should drink it.
J says
Those look amazing. If I thought them dry....they'd have landed in the bowl next to the icecream!
Katrina says
Well, they LOOK good. Great idea, Rita, a crust. You're too smart.
Anna, I have an open can of condensed milk in the fridge right now if you need it. 😉 Minus 1 T. a recipe called for. What should I do with it? Anyone?
clumbsycookie says
You were going to trow them in the trash?! Oh now! Glad you gave them a second chance! But even if they were dry I'm sure they could not taste bad. You can allways ground them to make a cheesecake crust or something like that!
DessertObsessed says
hahaha, you're funny. they sound great!