Raspberry Coconut Bars

This cheery recipe for raspberry coconut bars mixes the flavors of berries and chocolate with a little coconut for the perfect sweet treat!

So, you know those delectable magic bars that show up at pretty much every bake sale you’ve ever been to? The ones with the chocolate and butterscotch chips and coconut and graham cracker crust?

I am head over heels for that old classic, and this raspberry coconut version is basically a riff of of those, with your favorite raspberry jam taking the part of some of those chips.

The coconut and graham cracker crust are still there, and you KNOW I wouldn’t ditch the chocolate entirely – these babies have a nice white chocolate drizzle.

It’s like a pink princess version of a magic bar, and I am HERE for it.

And if you are looking around for a perfect Mother’s Day treat to bake up and serve with a cup of tea (or maybe a glass of orange raspberry sangria?) these have her name on them!

How to make raspberry coconut bars

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a 8 x 8 inch baking pan with parchment paper.

Whirl up 9 graham crackers in the food processor until they are fine crumbs.  Mix the graham cracker crumbs and a half cup of melted butter together and press firmly into the baking pan.  

Sprinkle 2 cups of sweetened flaked coconut over the crumbs, and then pour a 14 ounce can of condensed milk evenly over the coconut.

Pop this deliciousness into the oven and bake it up for about 25 minutes or until it’s lightly browned.  Pop it on a cooling rack to cool completely.  (The waiting is the hardest part!)

When everything is nice and cool, spread a coup of your favorite raspberry jam on top as evenly as you can over the top – I love an offset spatula for this part! and sprinkle with one more cup of coconut.  

Next! Melt a half cup of white chocolate chips (I usually do this in a double boiler, but you can also melt them in your microwave). Drizzle the melted chocolate over your lovely raspberry bars – I like to dunk a fork in the melted chocolate and then let it drizzle off the tines.

Chill the whole thing in the fridge for about 4 hours, then cut them into squares.

One note on the squares…I originally cut them into 9 squares (and the Southern husband was A-OK with that!), but after some soul-searching I’m here to advise cutting them into 18 squares. These babies are ALL the good kinds of rich.

So whether you are doing some Mother’s Day baking, or it’s somebody’s birthday, or you just want to use some of your favorite raspberry jam…raspberry coconut bars! They are their own kind of magic.