Cakes & Bakes: Toasted coconut & white chocolate blondies

Toasted coconut & white chocolate blondies

We have a lovely glass cake dome which usually sits on the dining room windowsill. Normally, it houses a tasty treat to accompany our afternoon cuppa, but it’s been empty for about 2 weeks now… and there’s nothing worse than an empty cake dome. A tray of these delicious toasted coconut & white chocolate blondie was the perfect quick solution to the crisis!

Toasted dessicated coconut

“What’s a ‘blondie’?”, I hear you say. Well, it’s like a brownie but without the addition of cocoa or milk/dark chocolate. It also usually includes brown sugar, but I used white caster sugar so it wouldn’t overpower the flavours of the white chocolate and coconut.

Pre-toasting the dessicated coconut really brings out the nutty flavour – don’t leave out this initial stage. Plus, it makes your kitchen smell heavenly!

creamed butter & sugar with egg Toasted coconut & white chocolate blondies mixture in a bowl

The milk chocolate chunks give the blondies a luscious, creamy mouth-feel. You could use a bag of white chocolate chips instead, if you prefer. I like biting into the odd big chunk.

Cooked toasted coconut & white chocolate blondies in a square, lined cake tin

It’s a really delicious treat, and really quick to mix and cook… an hour, tops.

Toasted coconut & white chocolate blondies cut into squares

Click here or on the image below to save my toasted coconut & white chocolate blondie recipe to Pinterest

Toasted coconut & white chocolate blondies recipe

Toasted coconut & white chocolate blondies

Toasted coconut & white chocolate blondies

Cook Time 20 minutes
Cuisine American
Servings 9 pieces

Equipment

  • large mixing bowl
  • wire balloon whisk
  • rubber spatula
  • 20cm/8" square cake tin

Ingredients
  

  • 115 g salted butter softened
  • 150 g caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 135 g plain flour
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • 100 g white chocolate roughly chopped
  • 75 g dessicated coconut

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
  • Grease & line a 20cm/8" square cake tin with parchment paper
  • In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet pan add the dessicated coconut and shake to level out. Put the pan in the oven for about 3 minutes. Take the pan out of the oven and give the contents a stir and shake to level out again. Keep doing this until the coconut is uniformly golden brown. Set aside to cool. You could do this step on a stove-top using a wok or other steep-sided pan
  • In a large mixing bowl and using a wire balloon whisk, cream the butter & caster sugar until light and fluffy
  • Add the egg and whisk until fully incorporated
  • Mix in the vanilla extract
  • Sift over the plain flour and baking powder. Fold in using the spatula
  • Stir in the white chocolate and cooled, toasted dessicated coconut until well mixed in
  • Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and level out using the spatula or the back of a spoon. Make sure to push the blondie dough into the corners
  • Bake for 20 minutes, until the top turns a lovely golden brown
  • Remove from the oven and leave the blondie in the tin for 5 minutes. Lift the blondie (still in the parchment paper) and allow to cool completely on a wire rack
  • Slice the blondie into 9 equal sized squares
Toasted coconut & white chocolate blondies ingredients
Keyword blondies, chocolate, coconut

Cakes & Bakes: Coconut brownies

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stack of home-made coconut brownies with mug of coffee | via @hisforhome #recipe #chocolate #brownies

Justin and I share similar tastes in a lot of things, desserts are not one of them. He prefers lemon tarts & drizzles – cream cakes too. I adore chocolate fudge cake, death by chocolate, chocolate brownies… you get the picture! We do occasionally have common ground; we both like carrot cake and baked vanilla cheesecake.

coconut brownie ingredients | via @hisforhome #recipe #chocolate #brownies

Last week I was lamenting his lack of love of brownies when he said, “Coconut brownies might tempt me”. That was all the encouragement I needed to whip up a batch.

coconut brownie dry and wet ingredients | via @hisforhome #recipe #chocolate #brownies

I made it with cocoa instead of the usual dark chocolate and used less butter than would be usual as I wanted a dryer, less dense and chewy texture.

coconut brownie dough | via @hisforhome #recipe #chocolate #brownies

He hasn’t said whether he liked it or not. All I know is that it didn’t hang around for long!

sliced home-made coconut brownies | via @hisforhome #recipe #chocolate #brownies

Click here to pin the recipe for later

stack of home-made coconut brownies with mug of coffee | H is for Home

Coconut brownies

Cook Time 30 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 9

Ingredients
  

  • 75 g/2½oz cocoa
  • 75 g/2½oz dessicated coconut
  • 150 g/5⅓oz caster sugar
  • 50 g/1¾oz plain flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 175 g/6oz butter
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 150ºC/300ºF/Gas mark 2
  • Grease a 20cm² / 8inch² cake tin
  • In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and make a well in the centre
  • In a small bowl, microwave the butter for about 15-20 seconds to just liquefy but not cook. Allow to cool slightly
  • Lightly whisk the eggs in a measuring bowl before adding the vanilla essence
  • Pour the wet ingredients into the well of the dry ingredients and combine well using a spatula
  • Pour the batter into the greased tin and bake for 25-30 minutes
  • Allow to cool in the tin before slicing into squares
  • Can be stored in a cool place in an airtight container for about 3 days
Keyword brownies, chocolate, coconut