Lemon Raspberry Shortbread Magic Bars

Did everyone have a good weekend? I did some serious catching up on my sleep and made more desserts than I intend to ever make again in one weekend. I have a busy next couple of months, which means less time for baking, but hopefully not less time for blogging!

So I have some exciting news to share. Over the next several months, I will be partnering with Walkers Shortbread as an official Walkers Blogging Ambassador and I couldn’t be more excited. I received a shipment of Walkers Shortbread Cookies and immediately opened the chocolate chip cookies; I didn’t share. Thankfully, I hadn’t eaten lunch that day and had plenty of room for cookies. Walkers generously sent me several boxes of cookies to try. My favorite, besides the chocolate chip, was the lemon and the vanilla shortbreads. So I knew I was going to make something special with these cookies.

Today, just for you, I made Raspberry Lemon Shortbread Magic Bars. You know magic bars, seven layer bars, the best type of bars on earth; they all live in the same category. The best part about making these bars, is that you can totally customize the bars to your own taste. You can substitute the nuts or chocolate or even your favorite  jam.

Surely you have had a Walkers Shortbread Cookie at some point. Walkers was founded in 1898 by Joseph Walker. It is, and has remained, family owned for 115 years. Walkers is the leading brand of food exported from Scotland. Walkers uses only the best ingredients for their cookies: butter, flour, sugar and a pinch of salt. Walkers also offers the widest variety of specialty shortbread cookies in the world.

I seriously enjoyed making these Raspberry Lemon Shortbread Magic Bars. Outside of the traditional seven layer bars, I haven’t done much experimenting with other types of bars, and I fell in love with these. The raspberry helps to balance out the tart of lemon and the coconut adds additional sweetness. They are the perfect spring time treat.

Raspberry Lemon Shortbread Magic Bars
Makes 20 bar

1 Box Walkers Lemon Thins Shortbread Cookie

1 Box Walkers Vanilla Shortbread Cookie

1/2 C Unsalted butter, melted

1 Can Sweetened condensed milk(14 oz)

3/4 C Chopped macadamia nuts

1 C Shredded coconut

8 oz White chocolate chips, divided

1 C Raspberry jam

3 tbsp Heavy whipping cream

2 tsp Lemon zest

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Use a food processor to grind cookies into a fine crumb. Pour cookie crumbs into a 13*9 inch baking sheet. Mix crumbs together to combine.
• Melt butter in the microwave 30-45 seconds until completely melted. Pour over cookie crumbs and use a spoon to mix butter into crumbs. Using your hands, gently pat cookie crumbs to spread and cover the bottom of the baking sheet.
• Pour one can of sweetened condensed milk over cookie crumbs; use the back of a spatula to spread if necessary.
• Next, pour macadamia nuts, shredded coconut and 5 ounces of white chocolate chips over top of the milk to cover evenly.
• Bake at 350° for 22-25 minutes until coconut starts to turn golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes.

Before (left) and after (right)

• While the bars are cooling, prepare lemon infused ganache. Place 3 tablespoons of heavy cream in a heat proof bowl. Place on top of a pot of simmering water. Use a fine grater to zest lemon into heavy cream. Heat heavy cream for several minutes until warm. Turn off heat and allow to sit for at least 5 minutes.
• Return cream to heat, and add 3 ounces of white chocolate chips. Heat cream and chocolate chips until melted, using a spatula to stir. Allow to cool for 15 minutes.
• While the chocolate is cooling, use a knife to gently spread raspberry jam on top of your bars. Sprinkle additional coconut on top if desired.
• Use a spoon or piping bag to drizzle lemon infused chocolate ganache on top of  the bars.

Place the bars in the refrigerator for at least an hour to allow the bars to harden. Remove when ready to serve. I suggest to keep the bars refrigerated so the crust stays firm.

Now that I have made two batches of these bars this weekend, I am down to my last two boxes of Walkers cookies, which means it’s time to restock!

For a limited time, Walkers will be offering my readers (that’s you!) a promo code for 20% online purchases, which can be made at www.walkersus.com. At checkout, enter the promo code #BFSPRING; sales items excluded, promotion ends May 24^th.

Walkers Shortbread provided me with a free samples of these cookies to review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. I was not compensated for this post.

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