Refreshing Coconut-Lime Bars...

Tangy and refreshing with a wicked good crust - those are the first words that entered my mind when I took a bite of these Coconut-Lime Bars with Hazelnut Shortbread Crust. I think we'll have some pucker-y smiles tomorrow when Jeff brings the bars in for the Weekly Wednesday Treat Day!

We roasted a full cup of intensely nutty hazelnuts until their skins began to break away from the meat of the nut and the insides were toasty brown. To ease those skins off, wrap the warm nuts in a clean towel and set them aside for a few minutes to cool, then take out some aggression by vigorously rubbing them together. Don't fret when you open the towel and find you are not left with sparkling clean hazelnut - if there are bits of skin stuck on, leave it be and just continue on. The main reason you want to do this is the skins are a touch bitter, but it is not that big of a deal.

To get the nuts small enough to incorporate into the crust, they are finely ground in a food processor. Add your sugar when you do this as it will absorb some of the oils that are released as the nuts break down and give you a buffer from turning the hazelnuts into nut butter. The rest of the crust consists simply of flour, salt and chilled cubes of butter to bring the dough together. Patted into the baking pan, this is the type of crust that needs to be baked and cooled before you top it off - be sure to note the extra time needed for this.

After stripping off the zest of quite a few limes (and most of the excess went into the freezer!), we squeezed enough of the green balls to get a whopping three-quarters of a cup worth of its precious juice. I don't use a juicer and never did get around to picking up a reamer - however, I use one tool that I already have and works pretty well for this process... a metal pair of tongs! After slicing the limes in half, I close the tongs until they are almost shut, then use it just as you would a reamer. The tip is small enough to fit right in and the tongs break down and scrape the cell walls of the limes just fine to get every last drop out without creating a big mess.

Since that juice is positively tart, don't scoff at the amount of sugar needed for the filling as its sweetness is there to persuaded the juice off its tangy ledge. Eggs are bound with the sugar, followed by the juice, a touch of flour for strength and a portion of the fresh zest to reinforce the presence of lime. Over the cooled crust, the filling was then spread on top and baked almost to the point where the filling was completely set. Almost, because we had one more addition to sprinkle on top - coconut! You want to add this during the last ten minutes as the coconut is fairly fickle and can get too dark in the blink of an eye.

Now, before you get out a fork to dig in, the bars will need to cool down to room temperature. But, they are not ready yet! The pan then needs to go into the refrigerator to chill down for the best texture. You don't want to stash the hot pan in the refrigerator though - besides raising the temperature of the fridge inside, if it goes in warm, the top will be riddled with water droplets... which doesn't make for a good treat! Chilling also gives you an edge in getting the bars cut into tidy squares. I'm sure you can already imagine how well these went over with us, but I particularity enjoyed how durable these were - the crust was substantial enough to pick 'em up to eat without worry, yet still be tender and buttery, while the filling held its own if you need to stack a few of the bars up.

Recipes
Coconut-Lime Bars with Hazelnut Shortbread Crust