Coconut Jam Sandwich Bars

I haven't made many bars, in fact if my memory serves me right I have only made one, The Chewy Monkey bars. These look to be the most appealing, bars are not really my thing as most of them are chock full of nuts. Thought these would be scrummy and decided to make them with raspberry rather than strawberry jam.

First you make up the base. It says to whisk it up but once all of the ingredients have been added it turns into a sort of dough. Its not as sticky or thick as a dough but not a sponge either. Very off and I had to get Hubby to help hold the grease proof paper in place inside the tray whilst I used a small rolling pin to flatter it out a little being using my, very clean, fingers to squish it into the corners, sides and flatten it out.

Popped it into the oven and waited for it to cool a little before making up the coconut topping. You have to mix the desiccated coconut with sugar and a one of the egg whites and let it cook for 3 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved. I didn't read through all the recipe steps beforehand and cracked all the egg whites into one bowl so had to measure it out, half it, then half again to get 'one' egg white needed. Then add the flour in and cook that for a little bit longer before folding it into the remaining whipped eggs whites. Before this is spread onto the base you have to put the jam layer on first. I made sure there was a thick layer of raspberry jam on before spreading the coconut mixture on top and whacking it back into the oven for 30 minutes until golden.

It came out looking bronzed and baked to perfection. Smelt yummy with the hot jam inside and so left it into the tin on top of the oven to chill for a few hours whilst we popped to the in-laws to try and take a dip in the pool with the little miss. We were back about an hour after, pool was too chill as the thermostat is broken and poor baby girl shivered the whole time. Back home for a nap for her and a cuppa and some cake for me and the husband. He was the first to try it, I got a 'mm nice' at the beginning which I didn't quite know how to gauge. I had a little slice myself and it was quite yummy. I was expecting more coconut to come through but then it could be that I used a fair bit of jam. I didn't measure the jam out, just slapped it on so not sure exactly how much was in there but it worked well. The base was strange but in a good way..not squishy like a cookie dough but not as solid as a biscuit. These bars you could easily eat many in one sitting, they aren't too sickly or heavy and go well with a cuppa.