Tropical Fruit Squares

The weather is starting to warm up in Virginia, and so I decided I wanted to make something summery. The result was these tropical fruit bars, which I thought turned out pretty well. I made mango, pineapple, and coconut bars. The recipe I used is based on a recipe for lemon bars I got from Joy of Baking. I found that the topping for these took forever to set, but then realized that I had neglected to put the flour in. It didn’t seem to matter though, as the bars ended up tasting great.

The recipe as I’ve written it here is enough to make one 8x8 pan of bars. If you want to make all three flavors, triple the recipe.

Tropical Fruit Bars

Makes 1 8x8 pan

½ cup (1 stick) Butter, room tempurature
¼ cup powdered sugar + more for dusting
1 cup + 2 Tbs all purpose flour (divided)
1/8 tsp salt

1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup fruit juice (pineapple or mango juice, or coconut milk)
1/3 cup shredded coconut (for coconut bars only, optional)
Food coloring (optional)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8x8 baking pan, or use cooking spray. In a medium bowl cream together the butter and the sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add 1 cup of flour and the salt and beat until dough just comes together. Press the dough into the bottom of your greased pan. Bake the crust for 20 minutes, or until it is just beginning to brown. Remove from the oven and let cool on cooling racks

2. While the crust is baking, beat together the eggs and sugar until smooth. Add the fruit juice and stir to combine, then fold in the two remaining tablespoons of flour. If making coconut bars, fold in the coconut. I also used a drop of yellow food coloring in the pineapple bars, and a drop of yellow and a drop of red in the mango.

3. Once the crust is cool, pour the topping over the crust, and put back in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes or until the topping has set (doesn’t jiggle when you shake the pan).

4. Dust lightly with powdered sugar. Cut into bars and enjoy.