The very first thing that you will notice about these cookies is the smell. Open the container or parcel that they are in and the glorious smell of coconut is almost overwhelming, in an amazingly delicious kind of way. Coconut overload. They are crunchy, with the soft bits of coconut sort of weaved though. The chocolate is just a bonus, but makes them pretty over-the-top, if you ask me.
Here’s a quick and easy recipe that I threw together… ok, I actually threw it together twice, because I made both a raspberry version and a lemon curd version. These two shortbread bars are actually very similar — identical until the top part, actually. I wanted to show how versatile this recipe is, and that it is super super easy to make. Start to finish in under an hour, though they do take a while to cool. I made 12 oblong bars out of each (4 x 3 cut), but you could do 4 x 4 so they are almost cookie-sized.
Been a few weeks since I made cookies. Probably because I spent the entire month of November making cookies — for 115 hours! — so that I didn’t want to even see any for a while. But we’re back and these are a cute little surprise for January. Buttons! And peanut butter! I like peanut butter, but don’ *love* peanut butter (that is likely the German in me — not a big thing in Germany) but the peanut butter is more like frosting in this case so lighter and fluffier. Sort of like an oreo, only a million times better.
Happy Christmas one and all! Here I am celebrating in the woods of Maine, where, sadly, there is no white Christmas and it’s 52F. Still wonder and nice though. And I made this Cranberry Upside Down Cake for Christmas dessert. It’s not much of a looker, but tastes fantastic — that whole combination of sweet and tart, with a little bit of cinnamon, clove and ginger. Also a touch of whipped cream add to the mix. Anyway, enjoy the day!
Here’s a recipe for those people who want to make something special for a holiday (or run of the mill too) breakfast, but won’t wan to spend a lot of time fussing about in the kitchen. All told, this recipe only takes about 20 minutes or prep and an hour of baking. Start to finish in under 90 minutes. Walnut-y (can be subbed with pecans or even cashews) and cinnamon-y, but not too overwhelming. A Coffee-cake, but not really. At any rate, it’s yummy, nearly fool proof and pretty quick.
PS: fills a standard 9 x 5 inch loaf pan (my pan was a little bigger, which is why it doesn’t fill up). You could also make two smaller loaves. This Walnut Streusel Bread also freezes well.