Coconut Almond Bars

Coconut Almond Bars - made November 9, 2021 from Shugary Sweets

Crust
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract (I used vanilla)
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling
1 bag (14-oz) shredded, sweetened coconut, toasted
1 can (14-oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon almond extract (I used vanilla)

Topping
1 bag (12-oz) milk chocolate morsels
1/4 cup caramel sauce
1/2 cup sliced almonds

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 9 x 13" baking pan with foil and lightly spray with cooking spray.
2. Crust: beat together butter, corn syrup, brown sugar, extract and egg yolk until smooth. Add in flour, baking powder and salt; beat until combined.
3. Pat dough into bottom of prepared pan. Bake for 5-6 minutes.
4. While crust is baking, combine toasted coconut, extract and sweetened condensed milk in a bowl. Drop by tablespoons onto partially baked crust. Return to oven and bake an additional 20-22 minutes, until edges of crust are lightly browned.
5. Remove from oven and sprinkle with milk chocolate chips immediately. Drizzle caramel sauce over the top and add sliced almonds. Cool completely. When cooled, cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.

This is another one of those recipes I've had on my pinterest board for ages that I've been meaning to try. The pics from Shugary Sweets look so mouthwatering and this has my favorite ingredients: caramel, coconut and chocolate.

I did deviate from the original recipe and used semisweet chocolate rather than milk chocolate. I personally prefer milk chocolate but since I was sending all but a small piece of this in military care packages for Soldiers Angels and I thought there were likely few military service members with my level of sweet tooth, I opted for the semisweet version, especially when this already came with caramel.

For once, I didn't underbake. While I didn't overbake, I think I baked this a minute or two longer than would be my normal preference. They weren't dry but they weren't as gooey looking as on Shugary Sweets' blog. Hmmm.

They still setup and cut well and the bars were good. At least the taste test piece I tasted seemed fine. I might try the milk chocolate version later on though, add more caramel and underbake a little, just to get that gooey factor.