
Bright yellow custard… Sweet tangy lemon…. Meaty coconut… Wrapped in English short bread cookie crust. Chewy and magnetically addictive. Then imagine a toasty cloud of swiss meringue up top. I just described my Lemon Coconut Meringue Bars!! If they only existed on another planet, I’d have to book my flight. They could transport me to a coffee shop across the Atlantic with brick stone roads and cold air. Or I could easily be in outer space floating on air… that’s how these bars make me feel. Close my eyes and entwined in their delicious magic I feel comforted at home and ready for aa another bite.
Ingredients for Lemon Coconut Meringue Bars:
Crust
- 1 1/2 – sticks of butter (12 tablespoons) (room temperature)
- 1/2 – cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/4 – cup flour
- 1/4 – teaspoon salt
Filling
- 2 – cups sugar
- 4 – eggs
- 3/4 – cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 4 – tablespoons flour
- 1 – cup shredded sweetened coconut (optional to toast before using)
Meringue
- 4 egg whites
- 1 1/3 cups bakers sugar
Directions:
- Spray a 8×8 or baker’s edge pan with non stick cooking spray, or grease then sugar dust. Set to the side
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
Crust:
- In a mixer cream together butter and powdered sugar for about 3 minutes.
- Then add in flour and salt and mix until dough comes together.
- Press dough into the bottom of baking pan.
- Bake for 17 minutes, or until dough turns slightly browned at the edge.
- Remove from oven and set to the side. Leave the oven on.
Filling:
- In a mixer add in sugar and eggs and mix until completely combined and mixture turns a light yellowish color. About 5 to 6 minutes on a medium high speed.
- Then pour in lemon juice, and mix to combine.
- Sprinkle flour over mixture and mix for another minute. Then fold in coconut.
- Place in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for 3 hours.
- Once cooled, run a knife along the edge and carefully remove from pan using a small spatula.
- Cut into desired size bars.
Meringue:
- Mix egg whites and sugar over a double boiler on a low flame. Mix constantly with a whisk until you can no longer feel the sugar between your fingers or until the temperature reaches 150 on a candy thermometer.
- Remove from the double boiler and place in standup mixer. Mix with whisk attachment on high for 2 to 3 minutes or until firm peaks form.
- Place in a piping bag fitted with a star tip and design meringue on top of each bar.
- Then with a torch on a low/medium flame, toast the top of each bar for a golden look.




For more direction please find the video of my how to make Lemon Coconut Meringue Bars in my Instagram Highlights.
