Coconut Lemon Bars

For the crust:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line an 8-inch square pan with parchment and brush paper with butter.

In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sifted icing sugar for 1 minute on medium speed. Add sifted flour and lemon zest and continue to beat until incorporated.

Press the crust evenly into the prepared pan with your hands. Set aside.

For the filling:
In a medium sized bowl whisk together all of the filling ingredients except coconut flakes and pour into the pan on top of the crust.

Bake for 20 minutes. Pull it out of the oven, sprinkle coconut flakes evenly over top and bake for another 20 minutes or until the top starts to brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Note: For pure lemon bars, leave out the coconut extract, coconut flakes and bake the bars for 30-35 minutes straight, until a toothpick comes out clean. Finish with a dusting of 2 tablespoons (15g) icing sugar.

Adapted from My Daily Morsel.