Coconut, walnuts, and maraschino cherries flavor chewy bar cookies. I received this recipe from my mother-in-law. In our family, they are a Christmas custom, but I believe they are ideal for Valentine’s Day.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 40 mins |
| Total Time: | 55 mins |
| Servings: | 32 |
| Yield: | 32 bars |
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup chopped walnuts
- 1 cup flaked coconut
- ½ cup chopped maraschino cherries
- 3 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tablespoon boiling water
- 1 tablespoon milk
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). In a medium bowl, mix together 1 cup flour and 1 tablespoon white sugar. Stir in melted butter. Spread thinly over the bottom of a 9×13 inch pan.
- Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm. In a medium bowl, stir together the brown sugar , 2 tablespoons flour, and baking powder. Mix in the eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla until well blended. Stir in the walnuts, coconut and maraschino cherries. Pour the mixture over the prepared crust.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top is light brown. Cool completely before frosting. To make the frosting, mix together 3 tablespoons butter and confectioners’ sugar. Beat in water, milk, almond extract and vanilla extract until smooth. Spread over cooled bars. Let stand until firm, then slice into squares.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 131 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 17 g |
| Cholesterol | 22 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 53 mg |
| Sugars | 12 g |
| Fat | 7 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Made it just as the recipe called. It is very good. Will definitely make it again.
Very good except the crust needs to be thicker. As is, the crust is at best 1/8″ thick which isn’t thick enough to support the topping. Next time, I’ll double the crust mixture. I only drizzled the icing mixture over the top otherwise it would have bee, too sweet.
12.31.15 Cut the recipe in half and baked in a 6″x8″ pan. I added quite a bit more confectioner’s sugar to the frosting because it was so liquid-y. Actually, it’s more of a glaze rather than a frosting, and that’s a good thing, because the glaze doesn’t overpower the delicate flavor of the bars as a thick frosting might. The bars are plenty moist and slightly chewy, and you can really taste the coconut, walnuts, and the cherries. Husband said to give this a 5 because he REALLY liked them! This one will be made again.
Got great reviews. I bit hard to cut. Next time I will make them on parchment paper and lift out to cut. I used unsweetened coconut. For the icing I recommend making on third to one half the recipe and just drizzling it over the top. Going to make a second batch today and use up the rest of the icing I have left from Friday.
These bars are thin and quite sweet. My children did not think they were that good. I would not make again.
Thank you Jeri, just what I was looking for. I didn’t bother with the frosting as they are perfect without it. Though I supose if I wanted to make them look fancy perhaps just a light drizzle. They were a big hit with the men I bake for.
Yummy!!!! I saved the juice from the cherries and made a glaze of powdered sugar and the juice and drizzled over the bars instead of frosting them. They looked festive with the dark pink glaze.
These were delicious. We made them to go in a goodie box for grandparents for Valentines day and they were a huge hit. It did take quite a bit to make them, and I had to substitute Splenda for the sugar and brown sugar because my son is diabetic, but they were awesome. I doubled the entire recipe to make some nice thick cake like bars but only made the exact amount of icing the recipe called for. I don’t think it needed any more sweetness, they came out perfect.
This is the best, sweetest treat I have ever had. The first year I used candied cherries by mistake. I bought the wrong ones :o) I actually liked them better. They gave the bars a tighter consistency. Doesn’t seem to matter which way I make them though, my family, friends and co-workers can’t get enough. I’ve made them 3 years running for the Holiday Season.
I made this for Valentines Day in a heart-shaped pan. Boy is this rich. I also added chocolate chips. It reminds me of a blond brownie with lots of extras sitting on a pie crust. Cherries are the magic touch, and I bet macadamia nuts would really show it off next time. Thanks for a great recipe.
My family really liked these bars. The cherries made them a little different. I cut the frosting recipe in half and just drizzled it over the bars. They were moist and had great flavor.
I made these at Christmas and added them to the platters of cookies I give to family and friends. They were my favorite new cookie this year! I love the combination of walnuts, coconut and cherries. They were a little sweet, but I had cut them pretty small so they would go further, and they were only 1 or 2 bites. Just enough! they were easy to make, and I will definately make them again!
I did not like the icing – it was better without it.