Coconut Brownies

I always think I don't like brownies. If I'm in a bakery or a cafe, no part of me is thinking about choosing a brownie. Even when I'm browsing through recipes I'm always like "Meh, brownies." But then for some reason I'll buy one or I'll make a batch and I'm like, "Ohh yea...brownies." So of course I had to make a coconut-ty version of them to satisfy all the needs. These brownies are still the perfect amount of chocolate with a slight hint of coconut. If you want to jazz them up even more you could add a hint of espresso powder or some coffee chips to give them a light mocha flavour.

Here's the recipe:

Adapted from the Pastry Affair

Ingredients 

4 tablespoons solid coconut oil
4 oz of semi sweet chocolate, chopped
2 eggs
3/4 cups brown sugar
3 tablespoons of granulated sugar
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 9x9 square pan with aluminum foil and light grease.

In a saucepan, melt together the coconut oil and chopped chocolate until smooth. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for five minutes. In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Once the chocolate has cooled slightly, mix in the egg, sugars and vanilla. Gentle stir in the flour, baking powder and salt making sure not to form an air bubbles. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour into the greased pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle the shredded coconut on top until covered. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out (mostly) clean.

Carrot Muffins with Oat Streusel Topping

As mentioned in a previous post, I received the Bouchon Bakery cookbook for Christmas. It really is a beautiful book filled with lots of pictures and delicious sounding recipes. Wanting to try something simple to start, I decided to follow the carrot muffin recipe. Now, muffins are a seemingly easy thing to make. You mix the dry ingredients, add in the the wet, give a little mix and into the pan and oven it goes - piece of cake. However, Bouchon Bakery makes their recipe a little more complicated with awkward measurements and lengthy resting times. This being said, I tweaked the ingredients and measurements a bit to make them simpler, but kept the resting time in just in case. They were delicious! Not too sweet, very moist and a nice crumb to follow. If you have the time for muffin batter rests then follow through - I really think it took a leading role in the moist muffin that resulted. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup All-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg, beaten

1 3/4 cup shredded carrot

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and oil together with an electric mixer on low speed. Add the vanilla and egg and mix until just incorporated. Gradually mix in the flour mixture, on low speed, until combined. Gently scrape the bowl with a spatula to ensure all the ingredients are mixed, and stir in the shredded carrot. Cover and refrigerate up to 36 hours (or if you're really impatient I would wait at least three hours). Preheat the oven to 325 F. Pour the batter into a greased muffin pan. Sprinkle the oat streusel topping on top of the muffins and baked for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Oat Streusel Topping 

(this recipe was way too big for my liking, so again the measurements were reduced)

1/2 all purpose flour

1/3 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 a stick)

Stir together all ingredients except the butter. Cut the butter into pieces, and using a fork, mix until it is well incorporated - the butter should be no bigger than pea-sized chunks.

These muffins are a great breakfast on-the-go, or the perfect companion to your mid-afternoon cup of coffee. The oat streusel topping adds an extra sweetness, to the slightly spiced muffin. Enjoy!

Ginger Molasses Cookies

I'm not usually a fan of the big, round, cookies that you can get at Starbucks - they're too much cookie! However this time of year always makes it extra difficult to resist their ginger molasses cookies. They're soft, chewy with just the right amount of spice. A few years ago I was determined to recreate those cookies in our annual christmas cookie baking day. I found a few recipes online and pooled together the ones that sounded best, and was sure to make them even better in bite size form. This recipe is from my scraps of notes of favourite recipes and has been a winter classic in our cookie making. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon allspice

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1/4 cup molasses

Preheat the oven to 375 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift together to flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg and molasses until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until well combined. Roll the dough into small balls, approximately 1 inch in diameter, and roll in granulated sugar. Place on the baking sheet and lightly press down with two fingers. Bake for 6-8 minutes until the bottoms are lightly browned.

These cookies give you the spice of gingerbread while still remaining soft and chewy. They're perfect with a winter cup of tea (I recommend Alpine Punch or Sleigh Ride from David's tea) or if you're feeling fancy, a gingerbread latte! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Spice Biscotti

Okay, okay, I know I just wrote about pumpkin taking over the world, and butternut squash still holds a place in my heart, I promise! Last night though, I just really need some of that deliciously spicy pumpkin tastes and I needed it in the form of biscotti. It was one of those nights where I needed to clear my head and make something. I needed a project. I've made biscotti a couple times before, with some success, and was inspired by Cupcakes and Cashmere to give this pumpkin spice version a try. Though the drying times were a bit tricky to figure out, this italian cookie is coffee's perfect match - especially in this rainy weather. What made the cookies even better was a light drizzle of white chocolate. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

2 eggs

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs pumpkin and vanilla. Mix together the flour and pumpkin mixtures. Use your hands to knead the dough in the bowl, combing all ingredients together, until it forms a ball of dough. On a floured surface shape the dough into two small logs approximately 1/2 inch thick and place on the baking sheet. Bake for approximately 20-22 minutes, until firm to touch. Remove from the oven, lower the temperature to 300 F, and allow the logs to cool for 10-15 minutes. Slice the logs, diagonally, into 1 inch pieces and lay face down onto the parchment. Bake for 15 minutes, flip the biscotti and bake for another 15 minutes. Allow the biscotti to cool for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, melt your white chocolate chips (I used about half a bag) in the microwave, in 30
second intervals. Pour into a ziplock bag, snip the corner, and drizzle over the biscotti. Allow to dry.

Grab your latte, cappuccino, espresso or whatever other hot beverage you're sipping and get dunking. One of the best parts of biscotti is they are a great excuse to have cookies for breakfast! If anyone questions it, say no words and pass them a biscotti, they'll understand.