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!
Coconut flour. Lime glaze. You have me at hello.
turquoise sea meets an equally unbroken strip of azure sky, pina coladas, <-- yes, I am sooo there 🙂
Those look gorgeous!
but what if i’m still holding that thought wishing that i had made these bars already and were still sitting under palm trees?!?! WHAT DO I DO?!?!
Solution: next year we go to florida at the same time and not weeks apart. we’ll eat these. And i think i’ve never had a pina colada, so we can do that too.
my mouth is watering…that’s so unfair! Just kidding…they look amazing!!
I can see how these could transport you to an exotic place, yum, they look wonderful!
Lime and coconut, does it get anymore tropical. These look delicious.
coconut and lime… the perfect combo and I love all the dripping icing, gorgeous!
The tropics are looking mighty fine! This one looks like a keeper!
I still have some coconut flour – this would be a good way to use it up! Where are the beach photos???? Looks like a great dessert.
MMM.. coconut flour?
Just finely ground coconut?
I miss Florida:)These look great Sue.
I believe it is finely ground coconut, although it would have to be dried. When you finely grind fresh coconut it turns into coconut milk!