….and here they are. Just standing in a row 😉 (and if you don’t get this musical tribute at all, this is where my reference comes from. Although the song was apparently written in 1944, I first heard it in the Lion King movie, so I’m now making you have my own nostalgic trip down memory lane forced into your brain. Enjoy! 😉 ).
Chocolate and coconut is always a flavour marriage that breeds sheer perfection and makes my heart sing with joy. Now I get that I seem to be on a brownie kick lately (well…is it really a brownie kick if I just have two posts about them? Maybe. You be the judge), but in my defence, my previous brownie post was barely a brownie post. I mean, the brownie part of those hot chocolate brownie cups were really just a vehicle for the lovely peppermint ganachy-ness that they were filled with. This time though, it’s brownie’s time to shine (yeah, I just personified brownies. Anything that fills your heart with this much joie de vivre can only be considered a living thing as far as I’m concerned, so deal with it. Although now I feel like I should officially name them. Dear coconut brownies, I shall now christian thee “Coco” – ’cause it works on so many levels! Well…two levels – coconut and cocoa. I told you it was a winning combination 😉 ).
A friend of mine from my book club requested some vegan goodies, and in my completely not-at-all-overbearing way, I DID NOT push forward my own agenda by suggesting brownies. I swear, at no time did I say “so…I could make you some brownies. Maybe with coconut in them? Or whatever you want…but maybe coconut? Like chocolate brownies, but then mixed with coconut? Because otherwise, they’d just be brownies. I mean, seriously? Plain ol’ brownies? Only a crazy person wouldn’t add coconut. But, you know, it’s your thing, so you just let me know.” This was not then followed up by me creating a recording of myself saying “mmmm…coconut brownies” over and over and then secretly sneaking it into her room on a timer to start playing in the middle of the night. I mean really? What do you people take me for?!!! I let people make their own decisions, ’cause I’m all supportive like that 😉 .
Originally I thought of just adding some coconut to the brownie batter itself, but then I got to reminiscing about my coconut fudge bites from Christmas, and I thought, you know what would be awesome? Taking a variation on that filling, and creating a scrum-didilly-umptious brownie topping out of it. You could say this addition has added a bit of a German chocolate cake vibe to them now too, so now they’re international brownies, which means you can eat them with a raised pinky and a snobby attitude (also, it will allow you to yell “Nein!!! Das ist meine Brownie!” and slap people’s hands away if they try and steal it from you. Who knew brownies could teach you so many things and be so interactive?).
Alternatively, it allows you to embrace your inner hipster and pretend to be above eating regular brownies like everyone else. “I started eating coconut-infused brownies before it was cool.” You heard it here first folks 😉 .
Yield: 16 large or 25 bite-sized small brownies
Ingredients
Brownies:
- 1/2 cup vegan butter, melted
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup cane sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 egg replacer
- 2 tablespoons crème de cacao (or water is fine too)
- 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 taspoon instant coffee powder
- 3/4 cup flour
- 3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
Coconut Icing:
- 7 oz (1/2 14-oz can) coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon coconut milk powder (or other non-dairy milk powder would probably be fine too since coconut milk powder is fairly expensive FYI)
- ½ tablespoon cornstarch
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- ¾ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- ¼ cup chopped, toasted pecans (optional)
- 2 cups icing sugar
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease an 8×8 glass dish.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the butter, both sugars, vanilla, egg replacer and crème de cacao and whisk to combine. Mix in the baking powder, salt, cocoa powder, and instant coffee and whisk until fully blended. Now stir in flour and shredded coconut.
- Pour batter into prepared baking dish and spread out evenly.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the top of the brownies spring back slightly when touched.
- While this is cooling, prepare coconut icing.
- Over low-medium heat, combine coconut milk, coconut milk powder, cornstarch, and sugar. Stirring constantly, bring to a simmer, and then remove from heat.
- Immediately stir in coconut oil, vanilla, and maple syrup until everything is melted and evenly combined.
- In a separate bowl, sift icing sugar and set aside.
- Add approximately ⅓-2/3 of your coconut syrup to the icing sugar until the mixture reaches a frosting consistency. This is up to your personal taste on how thick or thin you’d like your icing to be.
- Add in shredded coconut and pecans and stir well to combine. Let sit in fridge or freezer until ready to use (i.e. once brownies have cooled completely).
- Frost brownies and enjoy!
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