If coconut is your jam, you are going to love these coconut cookie bars! A perfect combination of buttery soft cookie and toasted coconut. 

I actually got the idea for these bars from an almond cookie bar recipe. It was in a 9 inch pie plate or a springform pan (which I didn’t have). And I didn’t like the idea of cutting cookie bars into triangles so I thought, “I bet I can modify this into a 9×9 recipe.” So that’s what I did!

Ingredients

Most of the ingredients are your standard baking ingredients and are hopefully already in your pantry! The coconut extract and coconut shreds might have to be added to the grocery list. See below for details on the ingredients. 

• Butter – I use salted butter but I’m sure unsalted would work just fine. I would add an additional ¼ tsp of salt if using unsalted butter. 
• Sugar – Any granulated sugar will work! I use organic sugar from Costco. 
• Flour – Any all purpose flour will work just fine. I prefer to use the organic flour from Costco.
• Coconut extract – many health food stores should have a number of extracts, I like this brand.
• Eggs
• Salt
• Baking powder
• Shredded coconut – you can use sweetened or unsweetened flakes or shreds here. I get mine in bulk from Azure Standard, they have great high quality, organic bulk items! 

Process

These cookie bars come together really quickly! 

1. Grease a 9×9 pan and preheat the oven to 350*.
2. Add shredded coconut to a sheet pan and bake for 5-8 minutes or until golden brown. Watch closely and stir once halfway through if your oven bakes a little unevenly. 
3. Beat butter, sugar, and coconut extract until it’s lighter in color and creamy. It’s easiest to use a stand mixer, but a hand held mixer will work as well. 
4. Add in egg and mix to combine. 
5. Add flour and baking powder and mix to combine. 
6. Add the toasted coconut and mix by hand until just combined. 
7. Using a spatula spread the batter into the prepared 9×9 pan. This batter is thick so you will need to spread it evenly to the edges of the pan. 

Storage

These will last 5-7 days in an airtight container. They also freeze for up to 6 months. 

Variations of cookie bars

If you try these coconut bars and love them, there’s probably an endless list of variations you can do depending on what type of extracts you have in your home. 

• Lemon cookie bars: I tried substituting lemon extract and omitting the coconut. I baked it in an 8×8 because without the coconut there wasn’t enough batter for a 9×9. The bars were much more dense and soft. My family loved them but I think it needs to be tweaked just a little bit for that to work. 
• Almond cookie bars: If you substitute the extract for almond, omit the coconut shreds, and bake in a 9” pie pan and you have the most delicious almond cookie bars! 
• Cake batter: I haven’t done this one yet, but cake batter extract with coconut shreds and sprinkles would be delicious!