Tuesday 14 August 2012

Fudgy Coconut Brownies

Lately I have had a hankering to bring together chocolate and coconut in baking.  Now let me make myself clear.  The more I look at the recipes of my childhood, the more I see how much they included coconut.  In these days, 'coconut' meant unsweetened dessicated coconut.  Nowadays, 'coconut' can mean coconut milk, coconut cream, coconut oil, coconut butter, or large coconut shreds or flakes.  When I say chocolate and coconut, I am referring to dessicated coconut.

Last week I went to visit my sister Fran and took along a chocolate coconut slice from Emily Rose's Have Your Cake.  I'd admired the picture so long but it was more slice than cake.  (I should have let it cool in the tin rather than turning it out like a cake.)  It was nice but not what I was after.  We ate it for dessert with ice cream.  Sylvia had sprinkles on hers, which she loved.

On Sunday night I tried again with some Fudgy Coconut Brownies. that I had seen at Chocolate Log Blog and Nip it in the Bud.  They were easy enough to fit in between Grand Designs and a documentary called Roman Polanski Wanted and Desired.  They are incredibly soft when they come out of the oven and need to cool down in order to be firm enough to cut.  The smell of chocolate wafting through the loungeroom was very very hard to ignore.

Last night E and I stayed up until 1.30am to watch the Closing Ceremony of the London Olympic Games.  While Olympics aren't usually our thing, the ceremony was all about British music, which both of us love.  It was fantastic entertainment.  From the raw emotion of footage of John Lennon singing 'Imagine', to the humour of Eric Idle singing 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life', to the unabashed enthusiasm of the crowd singing along with Madness to 'Our House'.  I also admired the strength of Gary Barlow who sang with Take That, a week after his baby girl, Poppy, was stillborn.  We had bangers and mash for dinner, a crisp sandwich and brownie.  Not the most wholesome food but it fitted right in with the relaxed vibe of the evening!

I am in love with this brownie.  The texture of dessicated coconut is a bit more subtle than what I was after.  I've written a list below of other recipes to try from other blogs.  However the dense, chocolatey, fudgy brownie with a little bonus of coconut, is just heavenly.  According to Sylvia, wicked witches also love the brownie.

As I had bookmarked this recipe from both Chocolate Log Blog and Nip it in the Bud, I am sending these brownies to Tinned Tomatoes for Bookmarked Recipes, an event founded by Ruth's Kitchen Experiments.

More chocolate and coconut sweet treats from Green Gourmet Giraffe:

More chocolate and coconut sweet treats from other blogs:

Fudgy Coconut Brownies
Slightly adapted from BBC Good Food
  • 100g cocoa
  • 250g butter 
  • 400g sugar (I used 3/4 brown and 1/4 raw)
  • 4 eggs
  • 100g self-raising flour
  • 100g desiccated coconut
  • icing sugar , to dust (optional) 
Preheat oven to 180 C,  Grease and line a 22cm square cake tin.

Place cocoa, butter and sugar in microwave proof mixing bowl.  Heat in the microwave until butter is mostly melted (because it will keep melting after it comes out - this took me about 1 minute).  Stir in eggs.  It will thicken slightly and look glossy and gorgeous.  Stir in flour and coconut.  Pour into prepared cake tin.

Bake for about 45 minutes.  Check after 30 minutes and cover with foil if it is browning on top too quickly.  I think the only way to know it is done is that the top is cooked but it will be so soft in the middle that I didn't bother with a skewer - after all brownies should be a bit gooey in the middle.  Cool in the tin.  Cut into squares.  Keep in an airtight container. 

On the Stereo:
The music of Ennio Morricone (A Sunday Times free CD)

22 comments:

  1. You had me at chocolate and coconut!! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Astra - if you like this combination - here are lots of ideas :-)

      Delete
  2. oh boy, do those brownies look amazing! i love the addition of coconut! i loved the closing ceremony too - the spice girls were my favorite! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Gf happy tummy - the closing ceremony was brilliant - I loved the spice girls performance - brought back the memories of another time!

      Delete
  3. I've developed quite a taste for coconut in desserts too, so those brownies appeal to me. I've got into the habit of supplementing some flour with dessicated coconut when baking gluten-free. I like the flavour and it tends to keep things moist.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Cindy - I love the idea of adding some coconut to GF baking - have done that in a few recipes lately and it does work beautifully - it could become habit with me too! (this recipes doesn't have too much flour so it would probably be deglutenised ok - but you might be better off with adding coconut to another vegan recipe if you want to do away with the eggs)

      Delete
  4. I am in love with these brownies just through the screen. I can't believe I didn't like coconut much in my earlier years - it's now a firm favourite and chocolate and coconut even more so.

    We loved the closing ceremony too (perhaps even more so than the opening!) :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kari - I can't believe you didn't like coconut much at any time of your life - either you ate quite different sweet treats or you didn't eat a lot of them as a kid! Glad you have seen the error of your ways :-)

      Delete
  5. I love coconut even though it was most certainly NOT a staple of my childhood. These brownies look delicious!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Joanne - am sure you are making up for lost time with coconut now :-)

      Delete
  6. I'm on a coconut kick so I love the sound of these fudgey brownies Johanna! :) I wish I had stayed awake for the closing ceremony!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Lorraine - I was quite tired by the end of the ceremony - we had planned to go to bed before it finished by got caught up in it and regretted it the next morning :-)

      Delete
  7. My friend and I enjoyed the chocolate coconut royale (?) cake from Vegie Bar on Tuesday - I think you would really enjoy it!

    Chocolate and coconut - it's a combination that's up there with apple & cinammon, and raspberry & white chocolate.

    Nom!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks EssMick - I haven't had desserts at the vegie bar for years but I really should as I love their cakes - thanks for the tip

      Delete
  8. These sound amazing. Love, the idea of coconut in them too ... Desiccated Coconut played a significant part in my childhood food too ;0)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Chele - I am sure dessicated coconut must have been part of lots of aussie childhood because it is part of lots of iconic recipes

      Delete
  9. These brownies look delectable, and chocolate and cocnut is a fab combination.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Cakelaw - I love the combination so much I am now trying to avoid it or everything will have chocolate and coconut in my kitchen :-)

      Delete
  10. That's a beloved combination in our house, too. I've come to love coconut over the years--would love to do an adaptation of these brownies!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Ricki - would love to see you do an adaption of the brownies - the gf part would be easier than replacing the eggs is my guess but am sure you have lots of ideas

      Delete
  11. I've always wondered what makes the brownies so crackly on the top - I'm convinced it must be the eggs or something, because I see it so rarely in vegan recipes..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Matt - good question - you might see the crackle as a mini version of the shell on a pavlova - I never use egg replacers but do they help with getting some crackle?

      Delete

Thanks for dropping by. I love hearing from you. Please share your thoughts and questions. Annoyingly the spammers are bombarding me so I have turned on the pesky captcha code (refresh to find an easy one if you don't like the first one)