Coconut and Cranberry Bliss Bars

I used to have a whole corner of my cupboard devoted to desicated coconut, or as my sister called it once in a slip of the tongue, ‘desecrated coconut’. Every time I needed some for a recipe I would think, ‘Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m out at the moment’ and I would buy some, only to open my cupboard and realise there were five half-used bags languishing behind the flour. I actually check my supply now so it’s not as impressive as it used to be but if you have a similar hoarding problem this is a great recipe to put that coconut to use.

It’s gluten free (check your coconut to make sure, though) and if you leave out the white chocolate it can be refined sugar free. I couldn’t do that to myself though, in fact I increased the chocolate from 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup because one thing I never do is skimp on the good stuff.

This recipe comes from Anaya’s Open Kitchen, the food blog of a good friend of mine. She is currently exploring healthy eating and is passionate about organic produce, check it out for easy but delicious vegetarian recipes.

I used half desecrated coconut and half moist coconut flakes because that’s what I wanted to get out of my cupboard but use what you have on hand, it’s a very versatile recipe. I also finely chopped the white chocolate chips and dried cranberries to get an even distribution in the slice.

Note: no coconut was desecrated in the making of this recipe.

Coconut and Cranberry Bliss Bars

Adapted from Anaya’s Coconut bliss bars with white chocolate and cranberries over at Anaya’s Open Kitchen.

1 cup desiccated coconut

1 cup moist coconut flakes

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsps vanilla essence

1/2 cup white chocolate chips, chopped

1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped

Preheat oven to 180 C, line a slice tin with baking paper.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix well until everything is evenly distributed and moistened.

Press into the prepared slice tin, bake for 10-15 mins or until lightly browned.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tin before slicing.