Super Easy Coconut Chocolate Bars

I have been a little preoccupied lately and have not been posting to my blogs or really had a chance to read many of your blogs. My parent have been down visiting for a month, and they were staying out on Siesta Key, just minutes from my house. It is always so nice to have them down, but sometime we have to schedule our time to see them. Their friends keep them pretty busy. Today they left to stay with my aunt and uncle in Bradenton for about a week. That is just about a half hour drive from us...but during peak season probably longer...lost more traffic this time of year!

During their visit my sister and niece came for a week visit, which is always fun. I took a couple of days off from work to spend some time with them. Even with all this going on ...in the back of my mind I knew I had to schedule a time for me to take the ParaPro Assessment test before March 1. YIKES! Now you have to know that it has been quite some time since I've been in school (as a student that is) and taking a test on the computer is a little daunting. The state required all classified employees of the school board to pass the test to keep their position. We are supposed to be considered "highly qualified" as paraprofessionals to work in a classroom. Well I took the test on Thursday and passed it just fine! Whew! I was worried because I finished with and hour left...I was thinking...oh oh, that was too quick, what did I do wrong? :D With that off my mind and family gone now I can get back to my blogs!

I have made several things and have many photo (I hope I can remember what they all are) and I will start to share them with you...even what I made for the super bowl party!

This is such an easy recipe I am almost embarrassed to post it! I thought I would start back with an easy peasy recipe! It calls for:

1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs (I used low fat)

1 1/2 cups of coconut flakes (I used what I got from Tropical Traditions)

1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

1 can sweetened condensed milk ( I think they come 15 oz size)

That's it! Four ingredients!

Mix it all together and press it in a prepared 8" square baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes until golden. Let it cool before cutting it into bars.

The hardest part is waiting for it to cool!

Maranda asked if she could have one for breakfast!

I think maybe next time I try adding some crystallized ginger. You could probably add nuts if you like!

So here are a few pictures from what we've been doing.

This is looking under the draw bridge that take you out to the key. We can hear the cars driving over this from our house. That's Midnight Cove II my parents condo, taken from our boat.

Where we have to launch the boat we have to travel quite a ways in a no wake zone to get anywhere...but it's a nice ride.

Always a nice view over looking the Gulf of Mexico on a sunny day!

Hope everyone will come back and visit me again. I will be back with more soon. Spring break is coming up soon and I will have a week off! Yay Spring!

Toasted Coconut Ginger Blondies

Ever since I won a large jar of organic virgin coconut oil, I have been using it often, for my skin, hair and cooking. There are a lot of health benefits with using coconut oil. You should really check it out. Then I won some coconut cream concentrate, and have been enjoying it on my toast in the morning with some almond butter. Now I am really getting into coconut lately, and just bought 2lb bucket of coconut flakes.


I was checking out Tropical Traditions free coconut recipes so I can find many new ways to use the ingredients. I found these Toasted Coconut Ginger Blondies that use coconut oil and the coconut flakes, then adding my other favorite crystallized ginger. I like the way they have the recipes organized because you can search them by what they use, next I am checking out some of these recipes using the coconut cream concentrate. I mean they have everything from Coconut Chai Smoothie, Coconutty Creamy Grits, to Spicy Coconut Fish Recipe, with many more in between.

Now you know that I'm not much of a baker, so I was cautious trying to follow the recipe so I wouldn't have failure on my hands. I was making these to bring along when we went to visit my in-laws. Of course I still had to make a few changes...I didn't add as much crystallized ginger even though I'm a ginger fan, not everyone is, so I toned it down just a little, then I thought a tablespoon of vanilla was a lot, I used less then added some coconut extract, and ground ginger, and as always less sugar, then added a few chocolate chips. That's it!

Ingredients:
1 cup sifted flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/3 cup chopped crystallized ginger (called for 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup butter, or coconut oil, (I used coconut oil and a little coconut cream concentrate)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar ( it called for 3/4 cup)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp coconut extract
1/2-1 cup flaked unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x8 baking pan with extra fat of choice.
Sift the sifted flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together into a small bowl. Stir in the crystallized ginger.
Melt fat of choice gently . Whisk in brown sugar, mixing well. Let cool slightly if warm.
Whisk egg, vanilla and coconut extract into the sugar mixture. Mix in flour mixture in stages until well combined.
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Spread batter into prepared pan and sprinkle flaked coconut on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes.


I've never made blondies before so I wasn't sure how they were supposed to look going into the pan. I really had to spread the batter in there! It was more like a cookie dough.

It came out okay, but I was wondering about 1/8 tsp baking soda? Why bother? I don't know if I measured that little of an amount correctly. What would have happened if I added 1/4 tsp?

They were so good and I think it still had enough ginger with the smaller amount, yet still had a nice ginger bite to it. My daughter even liked it.

My pan was a little larger than 8"X8" by a half inch 8.5 x 8.5 and the were a little flat, but no big deal. I think maybe next time I will use a smaller pan though. They sure smelled good when they were baking in the oven.

The chocolate chips were a nice touch! The bars were such a big hit they didn't last long. I didn't get to save one for breakfast!

Coconut Bread

I won this coconut oil on a blog giveaway at Girls to Grow, it's a great mommy blog with lots of tips, info and mommy concerns. I have been wanting to try organic virgin coconut oil for awhile and was lucky to win a generous 32 oz jar. Tropical Traditions is a great company that offers many quality organic products, and offers many specials and blog giveaways. I bought some bamboo, red and black rice when they offered free shipping. I still want to try their coconut chips and coconut flour. I wanted to try the oil for cooking as well as skin care. it is also supposed to be pretty healthy for you. I first tried using it when making popcorn, and Maranda asked what that smell was. I thought it was great, but she wasn't so sure. It has a light coconut smell not overpowering at all. Then I thought I would check out more coconut recipes that they had on the website. Many use the coconut flour and coconut cream concentrate, they sound good, but I need more product.

I ended up finding this recipe found on at Caribbean Choice. I try to find recipes for sweet bread that doesn't use so many eggs or butter. This is a Jamaican recipe and I only made a few changes...I skipped the raisins and used the grated coconut in sweet syrup instead of peeling and grating a coconut.

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1/4 cup coconut milk
6 Tbsps. soft margarine, melted
1/2 tsp. vanilla
6 Tbsps. raisins, floured (I skipped this)
1/2 small coconut, peeled and grated (I had some canned grated coconut in sweet syrup instead)
I also added a little coconut essence for a little more coconut flavor, I wanted to really taste the coconut. Yum!

METHOD / DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven at 350°F/180°C
Sift dry ingredients in a bowl.
Combine sugar, beaten egg, coconut milk, melted margarine, vanilla, raisins and grated coconut.
Scrape mixture on a floured board and knead lightly to form a dough.
Shape dough and place into a greased loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes or until done.

It was strange to place the bread in the pan after kneading it like this, but I thought I'd give it a shot.

I spread the sweet coconut on top as well, hoping that it wouldn't burn. I had some sanding sugar that I added to the top too. The topping worked out well, I think next time I'll add more.

It was very good for breakfast and would be a great snack. You can spread it with a little cream, sweetened condensed milk, butter or jam...or eat it as is!

Mmmm...can you smell it? It didn't last long!