PECAN COCONUT LAYER BARS

I didn't get this post finished yesterday because I was reading Louise Penny's Glass Houses and just couldn't put it down. It is the 13th Chief Inspector Gamache novel she wrote and I have read. There is one more for me to read still, Kingdom of the Blind, but I hope she is currently writing the 15th one. I will miss the characters tremendously until. I am still on the waiting list for the last one so it looks like I won't be reading it as soon as I finish this one. If you like mysteries, I highly recommend you read Still Life, the first one in the series FIRST and then read them in order. She does have a continuing story running through them.

I did have to take a break from my reading last Thursday while I hosted the canasta group. I was supposed to have hosted back in December but with the construction/remodeling going on, I kept having to trade until now. (They are not quite finished but will be when the last few pieces of trim comes in.) I found the recipe Tuesday while looking through a cookbook at Hillcrest - Tuesdays are sometimes a little slow. It looked and sounded too good to pass up.

Well, it tasted just as yummy as the picture of it in the cookbook. I followed the recipe as it was written except I didn't add the coconut and pecans to the sugar mixture before pouring it on the partially baked crust. I lined the pan with foil and sprayed it with the nonstick cooking spray as the recipe said, but the bars stuck to the foil in a few places. That is the only reason I can come up with that it stuck (even though I think it should not have). Friend Janice thought maybe I didn't spray the foil heavy enough. Maybe that too. Anyway, the sugar mixture did have a little time to seep down into the warm partially baked crust before I could sprinkle the nuts and coconut on top, so that just might be why it stuck in places. 

It certainly didn't take away from the taste of the bars my husband would say after enjoying at least four pieces of it. If that happens to you when you try it, just make sure you got all of the foil off before you serve it.

Click here for a printable copy of just the recipe.

PECAN COCONUT LAYER BARS

Crust
1       yellow cake mix
5       tablespoons butter, melted
1       egg

Topping
3/4    cup corn syrup
1/4    cup packed brown sugar
2       eggs
1       teaspoon vanilla
1       cup chopped pecans
3/4    cup sweetened flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan with aluminium foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Make crust by combining the cake mix, butter, and egg in large mixing bowl.

Beat until ingredients are well blended. (Batter will be stiff and crumbly.)

Scatter lumps in pan leaving about 1/4 of them in bowl.

Press batter into pan using

the remaining crumbs to fill in in bare spots.

Bake for 15 minutes in oven.

Meanwhile combine the corn syrup, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a smaller bowl and

stir with whisk until

well blended. Stir in pecans and coconut. 

Spread topping evenly over partially baked crust.

(I didn't add the pecans and coconut to the mixture. I poured the mixture over the crust and then sprinkle about half of the nuts on top, then all of the coconut, and

then finished with the rest of the nuts. This might be why the bars stuck to the foil in places. Some of the mixture seeped in the crust before I could sprinkle all of the nuts and coconut on top. Just a thought.)

Bake 25 more minutes.

Cool completely before cutting.

I did lift the bars out of the pan by the foil to cut them. I had to make sure I got all of the foil in the places where they stuck to the foil. 

This was one of my hands I was dealt during the canasta game after I drew two to start the hand...I don't remember which two cards I drew.

I discarded the jack of clubs and Dorothy picked it up along with the joker and a five that were in the pile.