Getting to be Valentine’s Day so I thought that I would start putting up some ideas, in case you wanted to make something for your sweetheart. First up this year are these lovely gems. Overload on the chocolate with dipping and pecans as well. These are small (used a 3 inch cookie cutter) but pack great flavor. Easy to make too!
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.
Full disclosure: This recipe used pretty much exactly from HalfBaked Harvest because it sounded so good!
Second peanut butter recipe in as many weeks, which is really unusual for me, as I am not really a PB fan. Well, ok, not a peanut butter on bread with jam (or anything else for that matter) fan, but once you pair it with chocolate … well, I am all over that, which is why I like this recipe. Super yummy. It is, however, really rich, so maybe just eat one piece at a time. OK, maybe two.
Last of the experiments before the big Christmas Day feast, and another breakfast thing to boot. There are a number of breakfast swirls / cinnamon buns on this site, so this time I focused on almond in addition to the spice. Again, turned out lovely and light. Serve them right out of the oven for an amazing Christmas treat!