Maple Coconut Blondies October 28
As much as I like brownies, I would have to say that I always have a soft spot in my heart and a place in my kitchen for blondies. They tend to be more cookie-like and less chocolaty than brownies, but since they’re not defined by their cocoa content, there are even more ways to deviate from the standard and experiment with different flavors and ingredients in a batch of these bar cookies.
This particular batch of blondies get their flavor from maple syrup and coconut. It’s a pairing that you might not immediately come to mind when you think about either of the ingredients on their own, but they work together surprisngly well. Maple syrup is used as a sweetener for these blondies, along with some sugar, and gives the bars a rich, deep sweetness. It also helps keep the bars nice and moist. I would recommend using Grade B maple syrup, since it has a deeper and more distinct flavor than Grade A, but the lighter type will work fine, as well. The coconut supplies its own soft floral and nutty flavors to the bars, and really ensures that the bars keep a nice chew to them even if you end up storing them for a few days.
The finished blondies have a great texture, both moist and chewy, and a great flavor to them. At first, you can really taste the maple syrup, but as the blondies sit for a day or two, the coconut flavor steps up and shares the spotlight. For a simple bar cookie that takes only a few minutes to mix up, there is a lot of flavor here! I really like these plain, but they’re also good with chopped nuts or white chocolate mixed in, too.
Maple Coconut Blondies
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup shredded coconut
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking dish.
In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla and the egg and whisk until smooth. Add in flour and salt and stir just until no streaks of flour remain. Add in coconut and stir to distribute evenly. Pour into prepared baking dish.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until blondies are set and lightly browned.
Cool in pan on a wire rack.
Makes 20 blondies.
kickpleat Oct 28
hello, so making these. yum.
Jon Oct 28
These look good.Do you use sweetened or unsweetened coconut?
Sues Oct 28
I love blondies, coconut, and all things maple flavored, so these sound absolutely fabulous!
Nicole Oct 28
Jon - Both will work in this recipe. Use sweetened if you like things a little sweeter (I do) and unsweetened if not.
Carrie Z Oct 28
There is nothing wrong with those ingredients! Just the sound of these is making me swoon.
Collette Oct 28
Nicole, the Good Eating section of the Chicago Tribune today ran a story about Halloween baking and there was a large picture of vampire cupcakes with the recipe attributed as Adapted from BakingBites.com.
Here’s the link to the online article.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/chi-1028-vampire-addoct28,0,5999619.story?page=1
Sara Oct 28
Really tasty! Thanks! I threw dried cranberries in mine, and it was great!
jacquie Oct 28
yummy looking.
do you have a good source for maple syrup? particularly the different grades. my local stores don’t carry much in this area. thanks.
Kimi @ The Nourishing Gourmet Oct 28
Lovely idea. I bet some nuts in them would be good too.
Christie Oct 29
I made a similiar maple cookie not too long ago, and I love the idea of these as Blondies.
Stephanie Miller Oct 29
Thanks SO much for this recipe! I made a batch today just before my kids came home from school and they cleaned it ALL up before dinner (OK I’m not too excited about that part…). I’m going to be making a few more batches to hand out on Halloween!
Steph
Patricia Scarpin Oct 30
What a lovely way for me to use some of the maple syrup I brought home from vacation - these are lovely, Nic!
Nutmeg Nanny Oct 30
Mmmm how delicious does this look! I need to make these immediatly!
whitney Oct 30
Looks good!Will these freeze well?
lil miss dissertation Oct 31
i just made a batch of these, and they are AAB-solutely DEE-licious. i used unsweetened coconut flakes, and they were the perfect balance to the sweetness of the maple syrup and sugar. thank you!!
Ashley Nov 2
Ooo maple and coconut, two of my favourite things! Great blondie creation!
Vivian Nov 14
I just put these in the oven and can’t wait for them to come out! I added an extra step by browning the butter, and judging by the batter (a very important component of taste testing, as I’m sure you know.. :P), these blondies are absolutely delicious (I used your instructions for brown butter!). Thanks!!
P.S. Just wanted to let you know that I love that you don’t feel the need to throw chocolate into everything. I agree that it can be overpowering!