Carrot Coconut Bread

Easter is right around the corner, which means it's pretty much carrot cake season. I'm not a huge fan of carrot cake, but I will have a piece when in the right mood. And I'll certainly entertain the idea of turning carrot cake into something else, like a cookie or in this case, a lovely loaf of quick bread. I actually made this twice in the past week--once for my friend Cindy for her birthday baking and again for us because Dave was drooling when he saw Cindy's loaf and I think was a little disappointed he couldn't try it. But I'm glad to repeat it since it's a delicious twist on a breakfast or snack bread and was super easy to make. And the glaze. Do not skip the glaze. If carrot cake is just a delivery vehicle for cream cheese frosting, then this bread was made specifically for this cream cheese glaze. So. Good. This loaf is hearty, so you could totally just make it breakfast with a cup of coffee. Or a mid morning snack. Or lunch. Or grab a slice when you're up at 2 am with the baby.

Chip & Chunk Cookies

These are what I like to call definitive holiday cookies. Seriously, they have all the bits of a perfect holiday cookies: cinnamon, chocolate, nuts and coconut. Baked up in a tender cookie with a lovely crunch to the exterior, these flavors really just remind me of the holidays, so they are perfect for your baking list this month. For an little extra flavor, toast that coconut first and you'll get a little more depth to these cookies. Coconut burns pretty quickly, so keep an eye on it while it toasts--I had to try twice since I forgot to pay attention the first time. Whoops.

Almond Joy Krispies Treats

Happy 4th!  Need a quick treat for today's BBQ or fireworks later tonight?  Now, you know I'm not a huge coconut fan, but the flavor is growing on me.  I incorporated some lovely Almond Joy Pieces candy bits which added coconut and almond infused chocolate to the cereal laced with more shredded coconut and sliced almonds.  These treats are light and airy with a slight tropical feel and just enough sweetness to be a great summer dessert.  I took this batch to work to share with the researchers and they got rave reviews.  A pretty nice way to interrupt the work day, don't you think?

Cherry Bon Bon Cookies

Surprisingly, these may be my favorite cookie of the master mix series.  And they have coconut in them!  Who would have believed it?  These are a soft cookie packed with lots of goodies, like mini chocolate chips, chopped maraschino cherries and coconut flakes to make a cookie that's packed with flavor.  Made with the same master cookie mix I've featured all week, it's awesome how easy these were to make.  There's barely any measuring to do here, all done with a bowl, a pastry blender and a spatula so you've got minimal clean up and a cookie with maximum taste.

Flax Glowballs

A little chocolatey, a little coconut, and little almond combined with ground flax and oatmeal to make a truffle like energy snack that's both healthy and, I believe, vegan.  (Please let me know if I'm mistaken, and which ingredients make it not vegan.  I'm not well versed in vegan cooking.)  Unfortunately, I didn't actually taste these treats.  See, I meant to make them before giving up chocolate for Lent, but unfortunately I ran out of time and ended up making them on Ash Wednesday, so no taste-testing for me.  But them smelled amazing and I think the combination of cocoa, coconut and almost, with the added nuttiness of the oatmeal and the flax, would be quite decadent.  I don't believe the banana adds too much flavor, but I imagine you could swap that for applesauce if you think banana would be too much.  Dave wouldn't try these (I think he's afraid of flax), but I really do think I'll make these again for myself.

Samoa Cookie Bars

It's Girl Scout cookie season again, and while I still haven't been asked by any Girl Scouts if I'd like to buy them, I may not need them for my Samoa fix this year.  While you know coconut isn't my first love, Samoas have always been one of my most favorite Girl Scout cookies (right up there with Thin Mints).  Coconut wrapped in caramel topping a shortbread cookie and drizzled with dark chocolate is a decadent and delicious treat.   And baked up into these bars, this version is a nice replica.  Even though these bars don't have chocolate on the bottom, the extra drizzle on top maintains the chocolate to coconut/caramel to shortbread ratio.  If those purple boxes of cookies are calling your name every time you see a Girl Scout, do yourself a favor and make these bars.  Compare and you'll see these are just as good as their namesake--and you can make them year round.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Granola bars are always around our house.  They are an easy snack to throw in a bag when we're off to work or playing outside.  They sometimes get a bad rap for not being the healthiest option, but I like them because they can be filling with some whole grains and a little sweetness.  And when you make them yourself, you can control how you add that sweetness.  And these bars are made with honey, coconut oil and get an added flavor component from the flaked coconut.  And you know I'm not a huge coconut fan, but the way it toasted up in these bars provides a nice change of pace.  And of course, the chocolate chips play a nice supporting role in this snack.

Chocolate Chip Coconut Banana Rum Bread

Looking at it now, I probably should've made big loaves instead of mini loaves to go with the long name of this quick bread. Let's just say there's a lot going on in this bread.  And it all adds up to awesome deliciousness.  True story.  This read starts off quick with some banana, then it asks for a touch of coconut.  And you might as well stir in some chocolate chips.  But what's a part without the booze so you add rum and then everyone gets really happy and out comes a delicious bread.  Surprisingly, despite the alcohol, everyone gets along and no one is fighting for top billing.  Each flavor is distinct and supports each other.  So maybe it's less of a party and more of a support group?  Whatever it is, it's tasty.   Dave loves it because he gets to have coconut AND rum first thing in the morning when I make it.  Simple things, people.

Zucchini Cranberry Coconut Bread

Oh, zucchini.  My plant has just about taken over the deck and I've got so many yummy squash growing I could probably fill two weeks worth of recipes using it all.  But I won't. I'll just make extras of stuff and share.  Like this yummy bread laced with zucchini, cranberries and shredded coconut.  Delicious.  This was my attempt to get Dave to eat zucchini.  He actually did like it, but I have a feeling it was the cranberries and coconut that won him over, since the zucchini plays a minimal flavor role, coming in mostly useful to keep the bread moist.  But that subtley (spell check is telling my that's not a word--subtleness?  No.  Whatever.) is exactly what makes zucchini bread so good.  It's a sweet bread, moist, but can be paired with loads of jam or eaten plain and still be delicious.  I particularly like this bread plain, but a light toasting is also tasty.

Most months, Food Network Magazine features a mix & match recipe, perhaps for pulling together a pasta salad or stuffing, but in May 2011, they did a mix & match for quick breads, starting with a shredded fruit or veggie, adding mix-ins like nuts, dried fruits or flavored candy chips, then the basic batter ingredients, all topped off with an icing or glaze.  While I left off the topping, this bread would be delicious with a light vanilla icing.  Using the mix & match recipe as a guide, I came up with this delicious recipe, making a few tweaks such as replacing some of the oil with applesauce.  Bake this up in a standard or pan or easily adapt it to 3 mini loaves and bake for 40-45 minutes.  Then you can share more zucchini goodness with more people.

Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

This was not a combination I thought I'd be so in love with.  But they're wonderful.  A good chocolate flavor, but not overpowering, a perfect texture and oat goodness from the oatmeal and a sprinkling of coconut really come together in a soft, chewy cookie.  And I used coconut oil for the first time.  I think it really enhanced the coconut flavor in the cookies--in a subtle and good way.  Coconut is not one of my top flavors, but these cookies were a perfect chocolate/coconut combination and I think the oatmeal really helped cut the intensity of either flavor.  While Dave, Madaline and I enjoyed these cookies, Ernie was simply delighted by them.  I made several other things the weekend I made these and apparently everything else paled in comparison.

It's Foodie Pen Pal time again and I was tasked to send a package to Barbara at Summer Sensations. If you want to know more about Foodie Pen Pals or join in the fun of getting a package full of fun stuff from a fellow foodie and sending one of your own to another foodie, visit Lindsay's blog at The Lean Green Bean.  When I asked Barbara her favorite cookie flavor, she immediately responded coconut and chocolate chip.  I'd remembered seeing a recipe from Maria at Two Peas and Their Pod just a few days earlier and that sealed the deal on sending a sampling of these cookies tucked into Barbara's package.  I was the lucky recipient of a package from Donna, who is a blog reader from Annapolis, Maryland.  I had to chuckle when I opened the lovely package.

Almond Joy Banana Bread

This is one twist on banana bread that you'll definitely want to try.  It's pretty amazing how the banana flavor works so well with the chocolate, coconut and almond components of the Almond Joy candy bar.  Nothing is too overwhelming and all the flavors invited to the party play nice together.  This is a dense bread but still has a soft crumb from the bananas and yogurt.  I really like the chocolate and almond flavors paired against the banana, and the coconut is subtle but still recognizable, which is nice.  Dave really likes this idea but since he's more of a Mounds kind of guy, the sliced almonds were a good choice to add a bit of crunch and flavor without creating big chunks of nuts.

I was started to get a bunch of overripe bananas again (anyone remember these from bananapalooza last year?  And this and this?  And these?) so I wanted to get a jump on being overcome with bananas.  I'd pinned this recipe a while back and thought this was the perfect time to try it.  Lauren From the Little Yellow Kitchen really hit this one home, blending all the flavors into a perfect loaf.  The ingredients are easy and the only thing I needed to get were the almonds.  I opted for sliced over slivered because I didn't want them to be chunky in the batter, just a crisp taste.  And I used milk chocolate chips rather than chopping because I happened to have that on hand.  By the way, I promise you I didn't actually burn my loaf!  My oven was in use for actual food (hey, Dave and I like our dinner), so I popped this loaf in my toaster oven (which does a might fine job of baking, if you remember).  When the loaf was rising in the oven, it came very near the top of the inside of the toaster oven, so the top got extra browned, but it didn't crisp up or actually burn; it's just not the prettiest loaf.  But what does that matter.  We all know it's what's inside that counts.  And inside is nothing but yum!

Trail Mix Jumble Cookies

Ok, it's been paining me to hold out on you like this, but I'm just now getting around to using this--I can't believe I hadn't made the time but the best laid plans....  Anyway, I got the best baking swag for Christmas.  Madaline, my mother-in-law, asked Dave what I wanted, so he gave her the King Arthur Flour catalog that I had marked up.  Thinking I'd get one or two items on my list, I ended up getting them all!  Not the least of which was the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion Cookbook, something I've been coveting for a while!

Here's what I have to say after making one cookie recipe from this book: holy crap, I don't think I can go back to some of my tried and true cookie recipes.

That's, like, a big deal.

Seven Layer Mess Bars

Despite the name, these are not a flop!  In fact, they're pretty darn good and a twist on the traditional seven layer bar.  Dave was very pleased with how they turned out, even though he's not sure he's ever had the original style seven layer bar.  I was happy to make something so yummy since the circumstances of how these bars came to be were a little, well, unconventional.

It was one of those days where I had a leftover bit of an ingredient that I had to use up or throw away.  Since wastefulness is not a trait in my kitchen, I knew I had to make something, but what?  And to top it off, the ingredient was something I rarely use in my kitchen: most of a can of sweetened condensed milk.  I'd used a scant 1/4 cup of the stuff to make the Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies I guest posted at Mom's Crazy Cooking, but what was I going to do with the rest of it.  Somewhere in my mind I vaguely recalled a recipe for some sort of bar that used sweetened condensed milk, so I pulled out the one cookbook flashing in my head--my nondescript Christmas Cookies book.  Lo and behold, I found a recipe that I thought being short by a 1/4 cup of sweetened condensed milk wouldn't be a big deal.

Coconut Chocolate Chunk Blondies

You may remember that I'm not a big fan of coconut.  Dave is, so I succumb and will make different cookies and such with coconut for him (and others) to enjoy, but generally speaking I'll pass on those treats and reach for the straight up chocolate yummies every time.

But then I found this recipe and coconut and I became buddies.  These are seriously good.  Brown Eyed Baker said they tasted a lot like a Girl Scout Samoa cookie (minus the caramel), so I was sold and had to test them out (yes, Samoas are one of my favorite Girl Scout cookies--right behind Thin Mints.  So much for me not liking coconut).  These did turn out awesome.  There is a sweetness to the bar which is at the same time crunchy and moist with a lot of flavor.  I used some leftover ganache to spread across the top, but the original topping is listed below too.

White Chocolate Coconut

These were a bonus cookie. I didn't intend to make them, but I came across the recipe and Dave loves coconut and I had all the ingredients on hand.  So I figured I had to try them.  I'm not a coconut fan, so I didn't even taste these, but Dave said they were great.  The white chocolate matches well with the coconut, and he liked the crunchy outside paired with the soft inside.

Another Food Network recipe, this one is from Paula Deen, which means it uses 2 sticks of butter.  I'm not sure I've even seen her make anything without 2 sticks of butter.  I didn't change anything about the recipe or the ingredients, so that's saying something.  Although I did do the whole thing in a stand mixer (the recipe says hand mixer, but really?).

White Chocolate Coconut

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup quick cooking oats
3/4 cup shredded coconut flakes

For garnish:

8 ounces white chocolate, melted
3/4 cup toasted shredded coconut flakes

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together baking powder, baking soda, flour and salt.  Set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, scraping the sides of bowl as necessary.  Beat in the egg and vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.  Fold in the oats and shredded coconut flakes.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls.  On a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet, arrange balls about 2 inches apart.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown.  Turn baking sheet 180 degrees halfway through. If using more than one sheet at a time, rotate positions in the oven for more even baking.

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly on pans and then move to wire rack to complete cooling.

For garnish, melt white chocolate to a smooth consistency and toast coconut.  Arrange coconut flakes in a single layer in a baking dish or pan and toast at 350 degrees F for 4-5 minutes, stirring every 1-2 minutes.

When cookies are completely cool, dip them halfway into the melted white chocolate and then into the toasted coconut flakes.

Set them on a tray (I used a lid from a plastic container) and let chill in refrigerator for 5-10 minutes, until chocolate is set.

Makes 5 dozen.


Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess