Monday, January 4, 2010

Walnut-Coconut Squares with Citrus Frosting

. . . because I'm just not convinced we've all had enough sugar yet.
I made an orange cake with glaze the other day, and must say I came away with the conviction that while glaze is good, frosting is better. So when I came across this recipe from great-great-grandma Hattie's stash, complete with orange rind/lemon juice/powdered sugar frosting, I knew exactly how I wanted to use that final orange from the toe of the Christmas stocking.
An added bonus: the recipe also allows you to smush.
And I do love smushing.
See that crust to the left? Completely smushed, with fingers and all. If you have little ones around, they would love to help with this part.
The recipe came from an old newspaper article that's probably close to a hundred years old. I made a few changes, most notably ditching the raw egg yolks in the original frosting version.
There is only so far I will go for the sake of historical accuracy, and salmonella poisoning is a titch too far.
I also added quite a bit less than the 2 3/4 cups brown sugar called for in the original walnut filling. The 1 1/2 cups I added were plenty.
Enough chatter. On to the recipe (originally called Walnut Cookies, but as you can see from the photo above, it's a grossly inadequate name for these lovelies).
WALNUT-COCONUT SQUARES WITH CITRUS FROSTING
Crust:
1 c. butter
2 c. flour
Cream butter and flour in large bowl with pastry blender. Grease a 9 x 13-inch pan, and smush mixture into pan to make crust. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.
While crust is baking, prepare filling.
Filling:
4 eggs
1/4 c. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1 1/4 c. shredded coconut
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1 c. chopped nuts (I used pecans)
Mix all together.

Spread over baked crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, make frosting.
Frosting:
rind of 1 orange, grated
2 t. fresh lemon juice
2 T. orange juice
3 T. cream (I used this in lieu of the 2 egg yolks in the original recipe. If you don't have any, I'm sure milk would work fine)
about 2 c. powdered sugar
Mix all together until frosting is smooth. Drizzle over warm (cooked) cake and spread.
So here's the question: Have we all had enough sugar yet?







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14 Comments:

Blogger Carpool Queen said...

Lynn - is that plain shredded coconut or the sweetened kind? I have half a bag I need to use.

January 4, 2010 at 6:22 PM  
Blogger Lynn said...

Carpool Queen, I used the half a bag I had lying around, which happened to be sweetened flaked coconut. I'll bet whatever you have would work fine.

And I must know -- did you ask for and get the Julia Child cookbook for Christmas? Or did you opt for something else?

January 4, 2010 at 6:58 PM  
Blogger teresa said...

oh my gosh, these look so good! my mouth is watering!

January 5, 2010 at 8:05 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

These look wonderful, but I'll have to wait a while to try them. Because, yes, right now we HAVE had too much sugar, and it's showing on the scale. I hate scales.

January 5, 2010 at 8:48 AM  
Anonymous Faith said...

I love coconut and walnuts together, this looks incredible! I hope you had a nice holiday season, Lynn! Happy New Year!

January 5, 2010 at 11:58 AM  
Blogger Alexis AKA MOM said...

Ohhh yummy these look wonderful! Love the Citrus frosting :)

January 5, 2010 at 12:56 PM  
Anonymous Juliana said...

Happy New Year Lynn...your squares look yummie, specially with the citrus frosting...love lemony food :-)

January 5, 2010 at 1:39 PM  
Blogger grace said...

ah, smushing--such a cathartic practice. another cathartic practice that i enjoy is eating copious sweet treats containing coconut, and i'd really love this one. excellent recipe, lynn!

January 5, 2010 at 2:01 PM  
Blogger Mimi said...

Just the thing for my coconut lovers.
I enjoyed my visit to your castle. Thanks for visiting Mimi's Kitchen.
See you soon.
Mimi

January 5, 2010 at 2:16 PM  
Blogger Nutmeg said...

Oh Yummy, but alas, yes, I HAVE had too much sugar! Tucking that one away though!

January 5, 2010 at 10:44 PM  
Blogger Tori Leslie said...

Looks delish!!! thanks for the recipe. I love coconut!
I just found your blog, so nice!

January 7, 2010 at 6:13 AM  
Anonymous Barbara said...

I've been making a recipe similar to this for years, but with pecans, and in the frosting, lemons. My kids love them. I cut them in squares and freeze them. Love them right out of the freezer.
Took a cooking class many, many years ago and that's where I got the recipe. Think they are called Lemon Coconut Sours.
YUMMY.

January 7, 2010 at 10:56 AM  
Blogger Ingrid_3Bs said...

Mmmmm, that glaze. My jaw was tingling looking at all the yummy zest in it.
~ingrid

January 11, 2010 at 7:57 AM  
Blogger Alexis AKA MOM said...

Oh man not enough sugar don't know that word ... LOL

January 21, 2010 at 9:14 PM  

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