Coconut Oil Meyer Lemon Bars with a graham cracker crust – a healthier dairy free lemon bar that uses coconut oil rather than butter.

Shawn works with a guy who has a huge meyer lemon tree. In the spring, they have an abundance of meyer lemons. Shawn and I happen to have an abundance of fresh eggs from our chicken in the spring.

So we barter.

We give his co-worker a dozen eggs, and he gives us a huge grocery bag full of lemons. It works out great.

My favorite thing to make with meyer lemons are lemon bars. Meyer lemons aren’t as tart as regular lemons. They have a sweeter flavor, a hybrid between an orange and a lemon. Making them perfect for lemon bars.

I’m still not eating dairy since it makes the baby have reflux, so I started working on a dairy free version that would have no butter.

Coconut oil turned out to be the perfect substitute for butter. You would never be able to tell the difference. The lemon bars don’t taste coconut-y at all. You taste nothing but sweet and tangy ooey-gooey lemon bars.

I use the butter in the lemon bar filling and the graham cracker crust, which in our house is the only acceptable lemon bar crust. I’ve made a shortbread version, but love the graham cracker crust much more.

This recipe uses a lot of eggs, seven to be exact. We are getting about 5 eggs a day from our 7 chickens, and this recipe is the perfect way to use up our fresh eggs.

Coconut Oil Meyer Lemon Bars

Author: Tastes Lovely
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 8 hours 45 mins
Total Time: 9 hours 5 mins
Yield: 9x13 baking dish

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Ingredients

***These bars need to rest at room temperature for about 8 hours! They’re not good warm out of the oven! Factor that in when baking these!***

Crust

2 cups graham cracker crumbs (from 1 sleeve of graham crackers)
3/4 cup coconut oil (solid and room temperature, NOT melted)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling

2 tablespoons lemon zest (from about 4 lemons)
1 cup meyer lemon juice (from about 7-10 lemons)
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs + 3 large egg yolks (from 7 eggs total)
6 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
Powdered sugar for dusting the finished bars (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the oven rack in the middle. Get out a 9×13 glass baking dish.

Crust

Combine all the crust ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the coconut oil is evenly distributed. It will look like wet sand, and hold together when you pinch it.
Dump the crust into the 9×13 glass baking dish, spread and press into an even layer.
Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Filling

While the crust is baking, combine all the filling ingredients in a medium size mixing bowl and stir to combine.

Lemon Bars

When the crust is done baking, pour the lemon bar filling onto the warm crust. Reduce the oven to 325 degrees, and bake another 25 minutes until the filling is just set. You want the center to spring back like jello.
Remove the lemon bars from the oven. They will need to cool uncovered for about 8 hours at room temperature. (They’re not good warm out of the oven.)
After the lemons bars have rested, cut and serve them dusted with powdered sugar. Will keep in an airtight container for 1 week.