Maple Coconut Bar Cookies

Somewhere, in a bakery that I cannot remember, I tried a sandy and maple-y bar cookie. While I do not recall where I ate the bar cookie, I do remember the rich maple flavor and the buttery cookie base. I recently came across a recipe for maple cookies, and remembering this one maple bar I once had, I decided to play around with this recipe and see what I could come up with.

I really enjoyed the addition of coconut to these cookies, an ingredient I decided to stir in on a whim. The cookie itself is not too sweet, but it does have a delicious buttery taste that goes well with the subtleness of brown rice flour. They have a much more cakey texture, as opposed to a shortbread sandy-ness. And as far as the maple: It was definitely present, and it gave a light, lovely taste, but if I wanted to make these bars really maple-y, I could have added a teaspoon of maple extract, in place of one teaspoon of vanilla extract. Even still, these were no disappointment. They were a simple bar cookie to bake up, and respond well to some experimentation.


Maple Coconut Bars

Ingredients:
½ cup butter, melted and cooled
¼ cup evaporated cane juice
½ cup maple syrup
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup brown rice flour
¼ tsp. sea salt
1 cup shredded coconut

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla and the egg and whisk until smooth. 3. Add in flour and salt, then add in coconut and stir. Spread into prepared baking dish.
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until set and lightly browned.
4. Cool in pan on a wire rack.