Dream Cake Bars

Dream Cake Bars - made October 24, 2022 from Golde's Homemade Cookies by Golde Hoffman Soloway

Pastry

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Topping

2 eggs

1 cup brown sugar, packed

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped (I used toasted almonds)

3/4 cup coconut, shredded

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 8 x 8 pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, butter and 2 tablespoons brown sugar. Knead into light dough. Press gently into pan and bake for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the eggs lightly with a fork. Add the remaining topping ingredients and mix thoroughly. Spread topping over partially baked pastry. Return pan to oven and bake an additional 25-30 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before cutting.

I'm still making my way through this particular baking book I've had forever and rarely used. So far the recipes have just been "okay". Not bad, not particularly excellent but literally "okay".

I had hoped this one would break the okay barrier since it has the elements I like in a bar cookie: shortbread crust, brown sugar and coconut. I substituted toasted almonds for the walnuts since I don't like walnuts so as to increase its chances of meeting the approval of my picky taste buds.

Alas, to no avail. They weren't bad but they weren't spectacular either. The brown sugar flavor was good and I like the coconut-almond combination. The shortbread crust was a bit too floury and dry rather than being shortbread like the crust on my favorite lemon bar recipe. So this still goes into the "okay" column in my book.