Chocolate Coconut Squares

This is one of our favourite desserts to make for the holiday season. We like to serve these on Christmas Eve but they are a welcome addition to any occasion!

2013 will bring a new healthy lunch feature to the blog to balance out all the desserts we’ve been posting! Hope you enjoy the holidays!

coconut squares

1 and 1/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup butter, room temperature
4 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/3 cup 2 % milk
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1 cup unsweetened fine coconut

coconut squares 2

1. In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until creamy. Gradually add butter, milk and vanilla, and mix well.
2. In a separate bowl, sift flour and stir in baking powder. Add to the egg mixture and fold in with a spoon until well blended.
3. Pour into a greased and floured 9×13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 to 30 minutes. Let it cool for at least 20 minutes and then cut into squares.
4. Meanwhile, bring milk and sugar to a boil. Lower the heat to medium low, and gradually add the chocolate, stirring constantly until it’s melted. Remove from heat and add butter. Stir until the butter is melted.
5. Set up the ingredients to form a sort of assembly line on your countertop. Place the pan of squares and the chocolate mixture next to each other. Evenly spread the unsweetened coconut on a plate and place it last. Take a square from the pan, gently dip each square into chocolate mixture and then roll in coconut. Make sure each square is completely covered with chocolate before rolling in coconut. Arrange squares on a big platter or in a plastic container. Put either foil or wax paper between the rows.

Cool squares in the fridge for 12 hours, or in the freezer for 4 hours before serving.

DIY Christmas Gift Ideas

I love the idea of giving friends and family something a little more personal and heartfelt for Christmas in addition to store-bought gifts from their wish list. It’s easy to reuse fancy jars, glitter and Christmas ornaments laying around the house for a quick and easy homemade Christmas present or stocking stuffer!

Snowglobe

diy snow globe

Materials: Small reused jar, old Christmas ornament, glitter, baby oil and super glue.

1. Find a small jar and fill it up with baby oil, which will make the glitter fall slower. Fill the jar to the brim as much as you can.
2. Add a teaspoon of glitter.
3. Find a small Christmas ornament, remove the rope that is used to hang it on the tree, and add super glue to the bottom of the figurine. Hold it steady on the jar cap for at least a minute, and then let it sit on the super glue for a few more minutes. Once the super glue is dry and the figurine is stuck securely to the cap, flip it upside down and screw it to the jar.

Cookie In A Jar

cookie in a jar

Who doesn’t love cookies?

Materials: reused jar, ribbon, Christmas card and dry ingredients from a cookie recipe.

1. Use our peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe for this one! Layer the dry ingredients in a clear jar.
2. Write out the recipe on a Christmas card, noting that all they have to do is mix together any wet ingredients in a bowl, and then dump the contents of the jar and mix.
3. Attach the recipe to the jar with a ribbon.

Lemon ‘cake’ sugar scrub

This smells like lemon cake. Need I say more?

sugar scrub

Materials: One cup sugar, half cup vegetable glycerin, one tablespoon grated lemon zest, a small reused jar, Christmas card and ribbon or bow.

1. Mix one cup sugar, half a cup vegetable glycerin and one tablespoon grated lemon zest in a small bowl until mixture is smooth.
2. Pour into a small jar and attach a small Christmas card and ribbon or bow. Don’t have vegetable glycerin? Use olive oil. Leave a note attached to the jar cautioning the recipient to wipe off the bathtub floor as oils are slippery.

– Silvia

This is an excerpt from an article I wrote for The Reflector. Check out the full article here.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

It’s the holiday season and we’re in the mood to bake! These peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal cookies are soft, rich and gooey. I even managed to sneak a carrot into these cookies!

If your’e allergic to peanuts try almond butter. Or chocolate almond butter. Mmmm.

oatmeal chocolate chip cookie

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 large carrot, shredded
3/4 cup real maple syrup or agave nectar
1/2 cup nut butter
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

oatmeal chocolate chip cookie 2

1. Preheat oven to 375 F and line a baking sheet with lightly greased aluminium foil.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, rolled oats, baking powder and salt. Add the shredded carrot and mix together.
3. In a separate bowl use a whisk to combine the maple syrup and nut butter. Add this to the flour mixture and stir until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Drop about a tablespoon at a time onto baking sheet. Leave at least an inch between each cookie. Bake in the top 1/3 of the oven for 8 – 12 minutes or until the cookies are golden on top and bottom. For a softer cookie you’ll want to bake it for about 8-10 minutes.

Makes 12 cookies.

My recipe originally published on The Calgary Journal food blog.