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Blueberry, Coconut & Lemon Bars from Handfuls of Sunshine by Tilly Pamment

Article | Jul 2025
Handfuls of sunshine tilly pamment 1

Tilly Pamment, author of The Plain Cake Appreciation Society, returns with this collection of more than 70 irresistible recipes for bite-sized bakes. Whether eaten gleefully, warm from the oven (no plate needed!), passed around to share, or batched and squirrelled away for a rainy day, these recipes are all designed to bring a handful of sweet joy to any moment, and don’t we all need a little more of that?

Her new book, Handfuls of Sunshine includes delicious recipes for baby cakes, slices, tarts and other small, sweet morsels.

Here’s a yummy recipe to try.

Blueberry, Coconut & Lemon Bars from Handfuls of Sunshine by Tilly Pamment

Blueberry, Coconut & Lemon Bars

Essentially a friand, these little gluten-free, blueberry-studded cakes are a real pleasure. Especially eaten just warm from the oven, when the blueberries burst juicily on your tongue and the fl aked coconut is crisp and toasty. When I was a waitress at a local cafe as a teenager, a latte in a tall glass and a friand were the height of sophistication – I’m no longer sure that’s true of the latte, but I think it is high time we brought back the friand!

MAKES 12 LITTLE CAKES * GLUTEN FREE

80 g (23/4 oz) almond meal

80 g (23/4 oz) desiccated coconut

50 g (13/4 oz) white rice flour, plus extra to dust

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of fine sea salt

120 g (41/4 oz) pure icing (confectioners’) sugar, sifted

4 egg whites (140 g/5 oz)

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

100 g (31/2 oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus extra to grease

125 g (41/2 oz) fresh blueberries

4 tablespoons (30 g/1 oz) flaked coconut

**********

Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F) fan-forced and grease a 12-hole tiny loaf (bar) or muffin/cupcake tin (with 80 ml/21/2 fl oz capacity holes) well with softened butter.

Dust with a little extra rice flour, tapping out any excess. Place the almond meal, desiccated coconut, white rice flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl and use a hand whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl, use a hand whisk to whisk the egg whites until frothy.

Add the whisked egg whites to the dry ingredients along with the vanilla, lemon zest and melted butter. Stir until smooth. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared tins.

Next, divide the blueberries between the cakes, gently pressing them into the batter, then top with the flaked coconut.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 minutes or until the cakes are cooked through and the coconut flakes are golden.

Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before carefully turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

STORE & SHARE

These little cakes will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for a day or two – just return them to room temperature before serving.

Tilly Pamment, Australian cookbook author
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tilly Pamment is an Australian recipe writer, photographer and stylist. She lives in the Blue Mountains with her husband and two children, and is the creative brain behind @tillys_table, where she shares her seasonal baking recipes and inspiration with a community of like-minded pleasure seekers.

She is the author of international bestseller The Plain Cake Appreciation Society.

Visit Tilly Pamment’s website

Book Cover
Author: Pamment, Tilly
Category: Lifestyle, sport & leisure
Book Format: hardcover
Publisher: Murdoch Books
ISBN: 9781761500312
RRP: 39.99
See book Details

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