Thursday, March 11, 2010

Brother bought a coconut...

Last Friday when making a quick trip to the grocery store for some milk Lu spotted coconut.  A real life, honest to goodness coconut.  And she begged.  And she pleaded.  And I caved.  I caved because I had a) NEVER had a fresh coconut and b) it made a sloshy kinda noise when you shook it and all I could think of was mmmmm coconut milk.  Well we busted that sucker open on Sunday and I have to admit, I was a little disappointed that it is actually coconut water, not milk but anyways, after much shucking and shredding I was left with a murky jar of water, which I will use to cook my rice tonight (and no don't check to see what I was supposed to make cause I changed my mind this morning!) and 2 resealable baggies of shredded white coconut. 

So my foodie challenge this week was what to do with fresh coconut. Sure I could have made a curry or something else to that effect but I had already done the plan and the coconut was fresh and shredded so I had to use it asap.  Plus my house had that eggy smell from the egg salad sandwiches I made for lunch, so baking seemed like a good idea.
Photobucket

Chewy Coconut Bars

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped cashews
2 cup shredded coconut

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
In large bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Slowly blend in flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until well blended. Fold in chocolate chips, cashews and coconut. Spread the mixture evenly in pan.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool before cutting into bars.

2 comments:

Christine said...

Mmmmm those look good! I'm going to try this!

shauna said...

Did you get your coconut here in town because every time I try to get a coconut here they are always moldy and gross. I haven't had any luck with fresh coconut and I am dying to try it...