Raspberry Bars with Coconut

These raspberry bars with coconut are a delightful way to enjoy the bright flavor of raspberries year-round. Many of our most cherished desserts use seasonal fruit, but realistically fresh fruit is sometimes a pain to work with. Most fruits need some combination of peeling, pitting or other prep. Raspberries don’t, but they’re highly perishable and sometimes we just don’t find time to use them before they’re past their prime. Life is complicated, right?

Using preserves instead is an easy alternative. They provide those wonderful peak-season flavors all year long, and more importantly, they’re available. They’ll keep unopened in your pantry for years, or opened for months in your fridge, so you can whip up a tasty dessert any time you feel like it.

Ingredients for Raspberry Bars with Coconut

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• Butter: Butter provides much of the flavor in the rich, cookie-like crust.
• Sugar: Sugar sweetens the crust, but also helps give it its texture.
• Egg: An egg helps bind the crust’s ingredients together.
• Vanilla: Vanilla’s warm, aromatic flavor takes a supporting role here, complementing the raspberry preserves.
• Flour: All-purpose flour provides the crust’s base ingredient, giving it structure.
• Baking powder: Baking powder helps lighten the crust and give it a delicate texture.
• Shredded coconut: The coconut in the crust helps strengthen it, so you can handle the bars without them crumbling, but also adds flavor and fiber.
• Walnuts: Walnuts add flavor and textural contrast to the crust, along with protein and healthy oils.
• Raspberry preserves: Raspberry preserves give these bars their appealing flavor and color.
• White baking chips: White baking chips contribute to the top crust of the bars, acting similar to an icing as they melt in the oven.

Directions

Step 1: Make the dough

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Heat your oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until they’re light and fluffy, five to seven minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl combine the flour and baking powder with a fork or whisk, then gradually beat the dry ingredients into the creamed butter mixture. Stir in the walnuts and 1 ¼ cups of the coconut.

Step 2: Assemble the bars

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Press ¾ of the dough into a greased 13×9-inch baking pan. Spread the raspberry preserves evenly over this lower crust. Sprinkle the baking chips and remaining coconut evenly over the preserves. Crumble the remaining dough over the top, and press it lightly onto the filling.

Step 3: Bake the bars

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Bake until the upper crust is golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool the pan on a wire rack, then cut them into bars.

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Raspberry Coconut Bars Variations

Change the preserves: The easiest way to change up this bar cookie is by changing the preserves. The dough is low-key enough to pair well with almost any flavor you want to throw at it. Good options to consider include cherry, blueberry, peach or strawberry preserves, but any preserves you like (and especially those you make yourself) are fair game. Even left-field options such as orange marmalade or stewed rhubarb work out beautifully.

Try a chocolate version: Raspberries and chocolate are a fine combination, and so are coconut and chocolate. It’s easy to tweak this recipe to make a chocolate version, which gives the basic recipe a whole different spin. Just replace 3 tablespoons of the flour with cocoa, and proceed with the recipe as usual. You can stick with the white baking chips, switch to chocolate chips or use a mixture of both.

Go gluten-free: This kind of recipe is easy to convert to a gluten-free version, if necessary. There aren’t any textural challenges to contend with, so you can just swap any gluten-free all-purpose flour for the regular kind. As always, check the labels on the other ingredients for allergen warnings or “may contain” statements, just in case.

How to Store Raspberry and Coconut Bars

Bar cookies such as these, without perishable dairy ingredients such as cream cheese, can be kept covered at room temperature. They can also be refrigerated if you prefer.

How long will my raspberry coconut squares keep?

At room temperature, these bars will last up to a week. If you transfer them to a food-safe storage container with an airtight lid, you can stretch that to two weeks.

Can I freeze these bars?

You bet! If you’re making them ahead for company you can freeze a whole pan or individual bars. Whole pans can be wrapped and frozen right in the pan. Individual bars can be frozen on a sheet pan before wrapping. You can also freeze a whole pan of these bars unbaked, if you prefer, and bake them from frozen when you’re expecting company. Be sure to use a pan that’s designed to go from the freezer to the oven.

Tips for Raspberry Bars with Coconut

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Can this recipe be vegan?

Yes, and it’s actually a pretty easy conversion. All you need to do is swap out the egg for your preferred egg replacer, and the butter for a vegan butter equivalent. Coconut oil is also a good substitute and complements the flavor of the shredded coconut.

Can I bake a smaller batch?

You have a couple of options if the full recipe is too big a batch for your purposes. One is to cut down the recipe by half. Another is to make the full recipe but to use a pair of 8×8-inch baking pans instead. An 8×8 is just about exactly half the size of a 13×9-inch pan, so you can bake one now and put the other in your freezer for later use.

Can I make this on a half-sheet pan for the holidays?

Yes, you can scale a recipe up just as easily as you can scale it down. It’s simple with square or rectangular pans, because you just need to multiply the length by the width to get the number of square inches. A half-sheet pan checks in at 18×13 inches, exactly double the size of a 13×9, which makes for pretty easy math. Just double the recipe, and you’re good to go. For the record, if you ever want to convert to or from round pans, we have a guide for that.

Can I line my pan with parchment instead of greasing it?

You bet! There are a couple of ways to approach it. One is to neatly fold and crease your parchment in the corners of the pan, as if you were wrapping a gift (but in reverse). A second option is to crumple the parchment in your hands, as if it were a wad of tissue you’re about to discard. When you unfold it, you’ll find the parchment a lot less stiff and easier to push into the corners.