Soft, moist and chewy sugar cookie bars or blondies, loaded with sweet and crunchy coconut flakes, and nutty cashews. These high altitude coconut cashew cookie bars are easy to make, full of flavor, and stay soft for days after baking!
You might also love these high altitude recipes for oatmeal cream pie cookie bars, chocolate chip oatmeal cookie bars, and s’mores chocolate chip cookie bars.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Salty Sweet Chewy Crunchy. Cookie bars with cashews and coconut have all the best flavors and textures, and they’re really the best combination of salty and sweet, with a perfectly chewy texture.
Soft for Days. These coconut cashew cookie bars will stay soft, moist and chewy for days after baking, and they can even be frozen for later, too.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter. Adds richness, moisture and flavor to cookie bars.
- Granulated Sugar. Sweetness and moisture. You can also replace up to half the granulated sugar with light brown sugar, which adds notes of caramel and molasses.
- Eggs. Add structure and richness.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- All-Purpose Flour. Adds structure and strength.
- Baking Powder. Leavens the cookie bars so they puff up as they bake.
- Coarse Kosher Salt. Balances the sweetness. If you use salted cashews, you’ll need to slightly reduce the added salt.
- Coconut Flakes. I prefer unsweetened “natural” coconut flakes, rather than sweetened shredded coconut.
- Cashews. I usually use raw, unsalted cashews, but you can also use salted and roasted nuts, just slightly reduce the extra salt.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly spray a 9×9 inch baking pan with non-stick baking spray.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a bowl and hand-held electric mixer), beat the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the vanilla and eggs, mixing on low until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients, the coconut and the chopped cashews, and mix the dough on low, just until moistened. The dough will be very thick.
- Pile the dough into the prepared pan. Since the dough is so thick and sticky, it can be a little tricky to spread it out. The best way is to butter your hands or a spatula and spread the dough out as evenly as you can.
- Bake the cookie bars for about 28-30 minutes, just until the edges are set and every so slightly browned, but the center still looks a little underdone. Be careful not to over-bake these bars, or they will end up dry. They will continue to bake and set in the hot pan after you take them out of the oven. It’s normal for the center of the bars to settle and sink down a little as it cools.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack and cool completely before cutting, if you want to cut neat squares. These are also fabulous enjoyed warm, with a scoop of ice cream.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Leftover sugar cookie bars should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or wrapped well and frozen for 3-6 months.
Yes, you can use any nuts you like instead of cashews. Pecans, macadamia nuts, pistachios or almonds all work well.
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High Altitude Coconut Cashew Cookie Bars
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Electric Mixer (Stand or Hand-Held)
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 â…“ cups granulated sugar (up to half the granulated sugar can be substituted with light brown sugar)
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- ½ cup unsalted cashews, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly spray a 9×9 inch baking pan with non-stick baking spray.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a bowl and hand-held electric mixer), beat the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the vanilla and eggs, mixing on low until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients, the coconut and the chopped cashews, and mix the dough on low, just until moistened. The dough will be very thick.
- Pile the dough into the prepared pan. Since the dough is so thick and sticky, it can be a little tricky to spread it out. The best way is to butter your hands or a spatula and spread the dough out as evenly as you can.
- Bake the cookie bars for about 28-30 minutes, just until the edges are set and every so slightly browned, but the center still looks a little underdone. Be careful not to over-bake these bars, or they will end up dry. They will continue to bake and set in the hot pan after you take them out of the oven. It's normal for the center of the bars to settle and sink down a little as it cools.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack and cool completely before cutting, if you want to cut neat squares. These are also fabulous enjoyed warm, with a scoop of ice cream.
I hope you all love this recipe as much as I do!