Does anyone NOT like lemon bars. They might be my favorite treat. I’ve had good and I’ve had bad. The bad ones are made with a jello mix, are sickly sweet and taste of fake lemon. I wanted to make my own using real food. I wanted them to be super lemony and not too sweet. I also did not want the crust to be nut or grain based. I think it is easy to get carried away with nuts so I am trying to switch up my baking and use more coconut than nuts like almonds etc. Yes, I realize that cicinut is classified as a nut but coconut has a better Omega 3:6 ratio and as an added bonus is low oxalate. These are not low carb but they are also not a cheat. A treat, absolutely but not a cheat. The filling recipe came from here. (I would highly recommend checking out this guys blog. He has lots of great looking recipes. And does anyone else think that a man who can cook and bake is totally sexy??) I created my own base. The coconut chips I used are from Wilderness Family Naturals. They are incredible and I did hesitate to use them in a recipe as they are not cheap (when you include shipping into the cost) and I would have been devastated if these didn’t turn out and I wasted all those coconut chips. In the end it turned out to be well worth it. So how good were they? Me, who really does not have a sweet tooth ate probably 80% of the pan over the course of about 36 hours. So, yes, they were a smashing success. The kids hated them as expected due to the lemon in them and this suited me fine. I do believe that I will have to make more of these ASAP, you know for quality control. 🙂 I believe these are GAPS legal and low oxalate as well as soy, corn, dairy, grain, gluten, refined sugar and nut free. In case you are interested in seeing the evolution of this blog, check out my first recipe for Lemon Bars.
Crust
2 eggs
1/4 cup melted coconut oil (expeller pressed is fine if you don’t want to use your expensive virgin coconut oil)
2 T raw unfiltered honey
pinch of sea salt
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup coconut chips
1/2 cup coconut chips
Preheat oven to 350. In a food processor combine eggs, coconut oil, salt and honey. Mix to combine. Add coconut flour and 1/4 cup of coconut chips. Again, process until well combined. Transfer to a bowl and stir in remaining coconut chips. Grease a glass Pyrex baking dish with coconut oil. My dish is 7×11 or 2.2 QT/2 L. Press cookie batter base evenly into dish. Bake for 18 minutes at 350 until the edges are just starting to brown and center is cooked through.
Filling
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (strained so there is no pulp)
6 whole eggs
1/3 – 1/2 cup raw unfiltered honey
1/2 cup coconut oil (I used expeller pressed.)
pinch of sea salt
Whisk lemon juice, eggs, salt and honey together in a large glass bowl or double boiler. Bring about an inch of water to boil in a medium saucepan or bottom of double boiler. Set the glass bowl on top of the boiling water. The water should not be in contact with the bowl. Slowly whisk in the melted coconut oil. Continue to whisk as the water remains at a rolling boil. DO NOT TURN YOUR BACK on this. Whisk until it starts to thicken. When it starts to thicken it gets thick FAST. Remove from heat. It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain the filling through a fine mesh to remove any cooked egg bits. Top the crust and smooth it out. Refrigerate. My husband and The Civilized Caveman both thought this would have been great frozen too. It probably would although that would have really slowed me down as I polished these all off. (Hmmm maybe that is a good thing.) Top with extra coconut chips as you see fit. Refrigerate (or freeze) until set then devour!
This post was shared at: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/monday-mania-1232012/, http://www.realfoodwholehealth.com/2012/01/fresh-bites-friday-january-27-2012/
Lemon bars are one of my step-son’s favorites. I’ll have to try this recipe next time he’s in town becasue they look amazing!
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Let me know how they turn out for you. 🙂
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Thanks, maybe i WON’T make them…I need to lose weight also !
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Made these last night,.my 3 kids and hubby loved them. They are really amazing. Thank you.
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That’s awesome! I made them again a couple of hours ago. I decreased the honey in them and used a double boiler method. I made the changes to the recipe above. Now I am waiting not so patiently for them to set.
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thank you for sharing! i am going to try these! where do you get coconut chips.
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I put the link in the post to Wilderness Family Naturals which is what I’m using right now. I’ve also got them from Tropical Traditions. Both are online sources. TT was cheaper but the chips were less sweet. A friend here in Arizona found some at “Sprouts” which is a natural foods type grocery store. Another commenter told me she used coconut flakes (just smaller in size) and it turned out great. Hope that helps. Good luck. Let me know what you think.
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My, these look just wonderful! I look forward to trying these soon! I LOVE anything lemon.
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what’s a coconut chip?
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They are just really big flakes. If you click on the link you can see a picture if them from the place I got them from.
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thank you, your blog is really great! I bookmarked several recipes.
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Thx so much. Glad you found usable stuff.
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These look fabulous, Kim!
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These are so yummy!! I have made them twice, once with lemon and the flakes and the other time with limes and just grated coconut. Both times they disappeared pretty quickly, the whole family loved them.
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That’s great to hear. Thanks for taking the time to give me some feedback. Great idea to do it with limes.
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This is kinda like a recipe from deliciouslyorganic.com. She puts it in a cake form, lemon curd in the middle, then topped with strawberries. Its absolutely amazing so Im sure this will be too. We’ve made it for our kids bdays and they tear it up. Use lightly sweetened homemade raw whipped cream for the icing……..GOODNESS GRACIOUS!!!!!
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I am confused about the 1/4 cup coconut chips and 1/2 cup coconut chips in the recipe for the crust – in the directions you only mention the 1/4 cup
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Yes I wondered about that as well………
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The first quarter cup of coconut chips are added to the food processor and processed until fine. Then the remaining chips (1/2 cup) are stirred in to the crusts batter. It was just a way of getting the texture right by having some chips chopped fine and some left in large flakes.
Good luck. If you try it I’d love to hear how it turns out for you. This is my very favorite dessert!!
Kim
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This recipe looks very good and so much healthier than the other versions of lemon bars that I have tried in the past. Even making your own lemon bars typically takes a lot of unhealthy ingredients but these require few supplies, all of which are healthy for us (in small quantities at least) and they’re simple to make.
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I have been meaning to make this for almost 2 months. I’m newly celiac and going to a birthday party this evening. Waaaaaaaaa! No cake! But I decided to make these to bring so I could have a dessert (and for my husband’s very English Grandma who LOVES lemon squares). Oh my deary, I just finished putting it away in the fridge to set but I did taste test the lemon filling and I’m in heaven! I can see myself potentially being short changed at this birthday party with everyone wanting the lemon squares. I can’t wait for my 10 month old to try them as well, as he really seems to enjoy lemons.
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I made these two days ago, I am SO surprised how great they turned out! I’ve had to eat sugar-free for over a year and these are probably my favourite dessert I’ve found so far that I can eat, and that tastes like a real dessert. So much flavour! Also, the crust is just perfect for these. I already made a second batch today for my lemon-loving family =) Great recipe!
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