These rich and moist coconut bars are made of not one, but three different forms of scrumptiously healthy coconut, including shredded coconut, coconut oil and coconut milk in their ingredients list.
I have Shirley at Gluten Free Easily to thank for this recipe as it is based upon her famous gluten free Crustless Coconut Pie. I’m a big fan of Shirley’s crustless pie recipes. They’re perfect when I’m looking for a quick and easy, yet simply tasty, gluten free dessert.
I find that this coconut bar recipe tastes a bit like a macaroon bar. If you want to jazz up your coconut bars and get really decadent, try drizzling them with dark chocolate.
Coconut Bars
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup full fat coconut milk
- ⅓ cup coconut oil
- ⅓ cup honey
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon stevia
- ½ cup blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour
- 1½ cups unsweetened shredded coconut
- ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
Instructions
- Mix eggs, coconut milk, oil, honey, vanilla and stevia in a food processor
- Pulse in almond flour, coconut flour, shredded coconut and salt
- Transfer ingredients into an 8 x 8 inch baking dish
- Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes
- Cool for ½ hour, then place in refrigerator and serve when chilled
Here are some of the health benefits of coconut:
- Naturally gluten free
- Full of heart healthy fats that lower LDL cholesterol
- Anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-parasitic
- Reduces inflammation and promotes healthy absorption of nutrients
- High in minerals such as iron, phosphorus and zinc
It is also thought that eating coconut products speeds up the body’s metabolism, helping to prevent obesity.
Finally, Dr. Mary Newport has written an article on the remarkable results she believes she has achieved using coconut oil to remediate her husband’s early onset Alzheimer’s disease.
In this video Dr. Newport shares intriguing anecdotal evidence on the impact of coconut oil on neurobiological function. Her findings will be of particular interest to those of us who are working on our brain health in dealing with diseases and disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimers, Parkinsons, autism, ADD, etc.
So grab yourself a coconut bar and a cup of delicious dandelion coffee (that’s what I’m drinking right now) and settle in to watch the video of Dr. Newport. And be sure to let us know your thoughts in a comment below.
Dee Ruff says
I wasn’t sure how to get this info to you, Elana, or other’s who are interested in Paleo lifestyle, but I just wanted to make sure you are familiar with Dr. Terry Wahls of Iowa and her book, her video on youtube.com and her website at http://www.terrywahls.com. The more I learn about Paleo and what good it can do, the more fascinated I am. And loving the recipes!!!!
Jenny @ Colorado Uncouture says
Baked mine for 40 min (I’m at 6500′) and they were done perfect. Let the boyfriend throw in some chocolate chips right before baking and skipped the stevia. Living in Vail, we have such poor grocery options, I could only find sweetened (plus other crap) coconut. Hey, you should put in a word with someone who might be influential in Vail for a Vitamin Cottage… hint, hint….
Jenny says
Leaving a follow-up comment to say I agree with the others about them being too moist. They were perfect the first night/fresh out of the oven but the next day or two they were really moist and gooey and not in a good way. Next time I will be adding a lot more flour to see how that works. Also, after adding the chocolate chips, I couldn’t imagine them without, SO good ; )
Angie Halten says
I love all things coconut, so even before I made these I knew I would love them. They turned out great – thanks for the recipe!
Ciara Tague says
Elana these were soooo good & extremely addicting. The batch was gone within 24 hours. I did not use stevia. I wasn’t able to cut them into bars, so we ate them straight out of the baking dish. Delish!
Laura says
These bars are fabulous. I had to make a few changes due to ingredients on hand. I used almond meal instead of flour. I only had 1/3 c canned coconut milk left and used 2/3 c light canned coconut milk to make up the rest. To make up for the more watery nature of the light coconut milk I added another 1.5 teaspoons of coconut flour. Next time I’d try a full 2 Tbs if I only had the light coconut milk. I cooked mine for 30 minutes but next time would probably do a little longer since they are a little soft. Even so, when I sliced them up (after cooled in the fridge) the pieces held together nicely. Such a wonderful treat and clearly very adaptable. Thank you!
nora says
If you’re even considering making these… please do! They are AMAZING!! These are going to become a staple in my house!
EZ says
Just made this and its wonderful!! I didn’t add stevia and found it plenty sweet enough, thinking of drizzling dark chocolate on it later like you had mentioned. Mmmmm!
Caroline says
Made these yesterday with my daughter… So easy and so delicious! Thanks for the awesome recipes Elana! Keep them coming!
keri says
This is soo good….I added lemon juice and lemon zest for more of a lemonbar it was wonderful.Thanks for a great recipe.
Lynnette says
Wow! These are so good! I used coconut cream concentrate & coconut oil half & half for the oil measurement, and did not use any stevia. Thanks so much, Elana!
Jeanne J says
I appreciate this recipe. It is yummy in a crustless coconut flan kind of way. I added chocolate chips, used melted butter instead of coconut oil, did not add stevia and cooked it for 40 minutes. My husband thought it resembled a coconut bread pudding. Nonetheless, yummy.