Tag Archives: coconut flakes

{vegan} samoas

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Happy Friday Friends!
Who has some bake time scheduled for this weekend? If so, might I suggest some samoas?
Girl scout cookie season may be over, but that doesn’t mean you can no longer eat girl scout cookies!

I made these cookies once before and I remember loving them, but I never wrote out the full recipe. I had originally found the recipe on the a blog called The Baking Stone, making only a few substitutions, however when I went back to remake them recently I discovered that the blog is no longer around. I racked my brains and a very smudged/handwritten piece of paper and came up with what I believe to be the recipe I originally used. In the end it doesn’t matter if this is the same recipe as before because these cookies came out amazing. Therefore, I am posting the recipe here before it gets lost again. 

vegan samoas

{vegan} samoas
(makes 28 – depending on size)

- 2 heaping cups unsweetened coconut flakes (reduced fat coconut flakes for lower fat cookies)
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- pinch of salt
- 1/3 cup extra virgin coconut oil, melted
- 1/3 cup nut milk of choice, near room temperature
- 1 cup sucanat or brown sugar
- 1 T ground flax
- 1 t pure vanilla bean paste or extract

chocolate drizzle:

- 6 oz dark chocolate
- 1 t extra virgin coconut oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Toast coconut flakes for 5-7 minutes or until slightly golden. Make sure to stir after 3 mins so they don’t burn!
Once toasted, put aside coconut flakes.

In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, & salt.

In a larger bowl mix together coconut oil, sugar, milk, flax, vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture. Once combined, fold in the toasted coconut flakes.

Using a melon scooper or spoon, roll the dough and place on cookie sheet. Make sure to press the dough balls down because they will not spread.

Bake for 10-12 mins or until edges are slightly golden. Longer for larger sized cookies.
The cookies will still be very soft when you take them out of the oven and will harden as they cool. At this time poke a hole in the middle with a chopstick or similar sized utensil.

vegan samoas

While the cookies cool, melt the chocolate and coconut oil over a double boiler or in the microwave (stirring every 20 seconds until melted). Dunk the bottom of the cookies into the chocolate and let cool on nonstick foil or parchment. Once all the cookies bottoms have been coated, use a fork and drizzle remaining chocolate over cookies.
(I actually did it the other way around, but recommend coating bottom of cookies before drizzling)

vegan samoas vegan samoas

Place in the freezer for 20 minutes to let the chocolate firm up.

Then package and give to your cookie loving friends : )

vegan samoas

Orrr just save them all for yourself ; ) They keep very well in the freezer just FYI.

I’d venture to say these taste even better than the actual girl scouts samoas. The ingredients are definitely better. And the best part is they’re really simple to make.
Whether you’re a vegan or not, I guarantee these will be enjoyed to the fullest. So get baking!

Have a lovely weekend y’all!

Have any fun plans this weekends?
Do you like girl scout cookies? Which kind is your favorite?

 

 

cocoanut macadamia nut butter

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ello :)

Did you catch my last post about my raw cashew + macadamia nut butter infused with manuka honey? I’ve literally been eating it straight out of the jar with a spoon since I made it.  It’s great on a bagel or oats, but I like it most just spooned out of a jar.

And since I had already dirtied the food processor that day, I went ahead and made one more nut butter.
May as well, yeah?

this ones a little darker.
& happens to go quite well with bananas.

 

cocoanut macadamia nut butter

- 1 & 3/4 cup unsalted raw macadamia nuts
-  1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/3 – 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
- optional: 1/4 tsp salt

 {Process macadamia nuts for about 5 mins.  it should be quite liquidy (more so than other nut butters) and warm.  Add in chocolate chips and coconut.  The heat from the macadamia nuts should easily melt and meld the chocolate chips. Process for additional 5 mins.}

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

process raw macadamia nuts for about 5 mins

scrape down sides when necessary. it should be quite liquidy, more so than other nut butters.

at this point the macadamia butter should be quite warm…

add semi-sweet chocolate chips

and 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut {and optional salt, if using}

Process for another 5 mins or until throughly combined

Sometimes when macadamia nuts are raw they have a slight bitter taste, so I thought the chocolate and coconut seemed like a good addition.

This nut butter is especially great for drizzling.
It’s a lot more liquefied than cashew, almond, or peanut butter, but when I put it in the fridge it hardened up a bit and became very spreadable. it’s a versatile one.

macadamia nuts are known to be beneficial to our health {in moderation} and chocolate is full of antioxidants, so i think this nut butter is pretty much just a win-win :P

Papaya Overload

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I’m back and I’m baking!

Today is my last day in Hawaii :( and what’s one to do when there is way too many local farm-fresh papayas left over and not enough time to eat it all??

Turn it into a baked good, of course!

I thought over a couple papaya-possibilities over some papaya and almond butter oats…

I don’t think I’ll go around putting papaya into my oats all that often, but I needed to eat them and thought I’d give it a try.

With only have a limited amount of perishable ingredients left and time, all signs pointed to muffins. Quick and no scrub clean up.

I felt all Giada-esque (from Food Network’s ‘Giada at Home’) with the view I had as I was baking today in the kitchen.

Hot and fresh out of the oven

I wonder if my neighbors smelled my muffins baking because it smelled goooood in here.  I’ll be sure to bring a basket over before I leave this afternoon :)

Tropical Papaya Muffins

  • 1/2 cup coconut oil (melted or softened)
  • heaping 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup mashed papaya
  • 1/8 – 1/4 cup diced papaya
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
  • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/2 cup spelt flour
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 1/4 t baking powder
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1 t cinnamon
Bowl 1: Mix together the two flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Set to side.

Bowl 2: Cream together coconut oil and sugar until combined.  Add eggs and mix until combined.  Mix in 1 cup papaya and coconut flakes.  Mix in bowl 1 until combined.  Fold in diced papaya and fill muffin tins.

Bake at 350 for 18-20 mins.

I got to use these cuties today.

Aren’t they adorable??  My sweet friend gave them to me and they make measuring so fun :)

These tropical papaya muffins turned out even better than I expected!  They’re soft, crumbly, and moist.  Plus the ingredient list is super simple and relatively clean.

A definite airplane companion this evening.

Time to clean up!

Do you like papaya? I can live with it and I can live without it.  It’s not my most favorite fruit, but its nice to include it every once in a while.  Can’t be playin favorites! ;)