Dream Bars

Yield:Makes 10-12

A buttery, crumbly shortbread base topped with a sticky mixture of nuts and coconut bound by a tender, toffeelike chewy gunge

Ingredients:

BASE

• 200 grams butter, very soft
• 4 tablespoons light brown sugar, 60 grams
• 4 tablespoons sugar, 60 grams
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 220 grams all-purpose flour; wheat flour type 405
• pinch of salt

TOPPING

• 3 eggs, size M
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 115 grams brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons self-rising cake flour
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 50 grams shredded coconut
• 90 grams brazil nuts, roughly chopped
• 90 grams cashews, raw, unsalted

OTHER

• 1 23-cm square pan, greased and lined with parchment or wax paper

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 175 °C/ 350°F
2. Cream the butter and sugars together and, when light and soft, add the vanilla, flour, and salt, mixing well to combine. Tip this into the prepared pan and press down and in with your fingers. Put in the oven and bake for 10 minutes, then remove and let cool a little before spreading the topping on it.
3. To make this, beat the eggs together with the vanilla and then, still beating, add the sugar. Stir the flour, salt, and baking powder together, and fold into the sugar-egg mixture. Now fold in the coconut and nuts and spread this on top of the part-baked shortbread base.
4. Put the pan back in the oven for 30 minutes, then remove and let cool, still in the pan, on a wire rack. Cut into squares or bars as you like.

total time: 1 h
preparation time: 15 minutes
cooking/baking time: 10 + 30 minutes