Coconut Lime Squares ~ picture it: 80 degrees in the sun, the waves are rolling rhythmically in, an unbroken strip of turquoise sea meets an equally unbroken strip of azure sky…pelicans glide silently by overhead, palm leaves rustle in the breeze, you’ve got your sunglasses, flip flops, a piña colada… Now hold that thought.
I can’t claim that these tangy bars will lower your blood pressure or give you a nice tan, but for me they help extend that vacation feel a little longer. I made them between picking up the dog at the kennel and my third load of laundry. It’s hard to believe but I had my first piña colada last week in Florida. I don’t know how I managed to avoid such a lovely drink all these years!
When the craving for rum, fresh coconut, and lime hits, this is your go to dessert. Basically it’s a coconut rum blondie with a lime glaze. What could be bad about that? And like most bars and blondies, they are great for packing and sharing.
Lime is such a wonderful, underutilized flavor, if you love it like I do you’ll want to check out these other recipes on the blog:
I hope these help you hold on to that vacation just a little longer!
Coconut Lime Squares
Equipment
- 8x8 baking pan
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp molasses
- 2 eggs
- 2 Tbsp dark rum, or 1 tsp rum extract
- 1 tsp coconut extract, optional
- 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
glaze
- 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
- juice of up to 2 limes
- zest of 2 limes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease your 8x8 pan. I like to line it with parchment paper so I can easily lift it out for slicing, but this is optional.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.
- Cream the butter, sugar and molasses together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the rum and/or extracts.
- Mix in the dry ingredients until thoroughly combined. Fold in the coconut.
- Spread into your prepared pan.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
- Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then lift the blondies out of the pan with the parchment paper and finish cooling on a rack. Glaze when completely cool.
to make the glaze
- Blend the sugar with enough lime juice to make a spreadable glaze. Mix in the zest or sprinkle it on top.
Nutrition
make it your own ~
- This recipe is adaptable to all kinds of flavor combinations. You can easily swap the lime for lemon. Coconut also goes great with chocolate–if you’re a fan of that combination you could even drizzle them with a chocolate glaze or chocolate ganache instead of the lime glaze!
- Did you know you can make your own coconut flour from flaked or shredded coconut? Try this method!
Don’t forget to pin these Coconut Lime Squares!
??? Making this today. But after reading and writing the recipe, I am confused. In the directions you say: fold in the coconut. But there isn’t any coconut listed in the ingredients. {besides the coconut flour, that I believe is mixed in the dry ingredients} PLEASE advise! Thanks.
Fixed—sorry!
The lime zest looks gorgeous on top of these bars!!
I love baking with coconut flour!
So refreshing to see lime, coconut posts popping up now–goodbye winter!
These have to be one of the most appealing bars I have seen in a long time! Absolutely LOVE the combo of flavors! Have a beautiful weekend, Sue! xox
i’ve always been a fan of coconut and lime together, and for the record, the pina colada is my favorite boozy beverage. very nice!
I love this idea, your lime squares look so delicious!
Dang. These look good. I need to find coconut flour. If not found here in Kenya, I’m just gonna use AP flour – or would you recommend something else?
If you can get a hold of regular unsweetened dried coconut you can make your own flour in a food processor…just process until finely ground!
This slice looks wonderful and the photos made me wish I was on holiday somewhere drinking pina colada – might have to make this slice to get that spritz of summer.