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August 5, 2016

Join me in celebrating Tony's birthday with this delicious vintage recipe for Chocolate Coconut Marble Bars


Like many of us, my darling husband is a huge fan of chocolate - so much so, that back in 2012, I penned a post in honour of his birthday featuring ten different scrumptious vintage chocolate dessert recipes. Hop ahead four years - how time flies! - and we're once again on the precipice of Tony's birthday. In fact, it's tomorrow!

Yes, indeedy, August 6th is the big day and will, this time around, see Tony turn 36 years old (and to think that we met when he was just a young whippersnapper of 23!). Naturally this means that I've been on the hunt for a seriously tasty sweet treat or two to make for my precious man, and as such, chocolate filled recipes have been high on my list of contenders.

Of those that I've hit upon in recent weeks, this delightful looking recipe for Chocolate Coconut Marble Bars is by far one of my favourites. We're both huge marble cake fans (as discussed here), so a variation on this classic dish that includes another ingredient (coconut) that we both go wild for seems like it could be a surefire hit.

I often find coconut recipes lend themselves very, very nicely to being made in gluten-free form, too (I think the natural starches and sugars in the coconut have a bit of binding agent, which is usually hugely helpful in GF baking as one is not working with the "gluey-ness" of gluten), which means that I could indulge in these lovely bars as well if I made them as such (yippee!).



{Quick, budget friendly, and the perfect choice for any birthday (or tiki!) party, weekday dessert, school or work lunch box treat, or simple midday pick-me-up, these awesome vintage Chocolate Marble Bars are sure to be a big hit with any one who enjoys the tropical treat that is coconut. Vintage recipe image source. Click here to view a larger, easier to read version of this ad.}



Of course, if coconut isn't your bag - to borrow a great expression from our friends in the UK - you can always leave it out.

If doing so, I might sub in some slivered or chopped nuts, dried fruit (cherries, strawberries, raspberries, or bananas could all be especially fabulous here), candied citrus peel, baking chips (peanut butter or butterscotch would be a lovely pairing), or up the chocolate factor with chunks or pieces of your favourite baking variety - you could even introduce marshmallows, which would give this recipe a bit of a s'mores meets rocky road quality.

Given that we're still very, very much in throws of summer, I'd be mighty inclined to dish up thick slabs of this awesome 1950s desert with a generous helping of ice cream, sorbet, or chilled sweetened whipped cream or crème fraîche. Chocolate, strawberry, black cherry, raspberry ripple, pineapple, orange, lemon, caramel, coffee/mocha, peach, vanilla (French or regular), mint chocolate chip, peanut butter, almond, or coconut would all be excellent flavour pairings with the classic combo of chocolate and coconut.



{Cute vintage birthday card image source}

 
Tony is truly one of the nicest, most caring, thoughtful, intelligent, witty, fantastic people to have ever walked the face of the earth and I feel so lucky to be able to celebrate another birthday with him (and all the more so since we were apart for both of our b-days last year when he was working in America for the summer) - complete with a treat that, much like Tony himself, is all kinds of sweet and wonderful!


Happiest birthday wishes, my love!


And a very happy first weekend of August to each and every one of you, dear friends!

40 comments:

  1. Happy birthday to the husband! Happy chocolate cake eating!!!!

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  2. Chocolate! Oh, boy. Those bars sound good. As long as there is chocolate......

    Sarah
    www.sewcharacteristicallyyou.com/blog

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  3. Happy Birthday to Tony! That looks like a very yummy treat. I'm all for chocolate and coconut!! I love the vintage photos/art you found:)

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  4. Happiest of Birthdays to your dear hubby!!

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  5. Happy Birthday, Tony!!!!

    xoxo
    -Janey

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  6. Happy birthday to Tony!

    I love both chocolate and coconut. Those bars would go well with ice-cream. If I were making the recipe, I'd add a layer of chocolate frosting. My love of frosting comes from my father, who also doesn't think most desserts are complete without a thick layer of frosting. As a boy, he once made a bucket of frosting for lunch with his parents' permission, since he took responsibility for making it and cleaning up afterwards.

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  7. This sounds so delicious! Happy Birthday to your husband, Tony!
    I'm sure you two will have a wonderful day with a lot of chocolate. ;-)

    Many hugs,
    Sandra <3

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  8. Hope Tony has a very Happy Birthday!!! Anything with chocolate and coconut will be delish. :) I bake with coconut flour and coconut oil too.

    Tony takes awesome pics...the lighting and backgrounds are spot on!! Of course, he has a very stylish model/wife :) :)

    Best wishes,
    Dee

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  9. Yummmmm, you're making me want to make desserts!

    A very happy birthday to Tony!!!

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  10. This looks so delicious! I'll have to try it, Joe loves coconut sooooo much. Happy birthday Tony!!!!

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  11. Happy Birthday Tony! What a mouth watering post, Jessica. Do you know what year the $10,000 prize was awarded for the chocolate marble bars? It seems a substantial prize in 2016 for a recipe!! When I return from our winter holiday, I think I'll put my apron on and spend some time baking. xx

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  12. To the man who stands by you in good and the bad.
    To the man who appreciates what you do.
    To the man full of patience and understanding.
    To the man caring about your hobbies.
    To the man encouraging you on every step of the way.
    Here's to Tony!
    CHEERS!
    May there be many, many more happy days, may he stands by you forever, may you two have a pleasant day - today - and every day after that, for as long as you both are!
    Tony, have a HAPPY birthday!

    Marija

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  13. Happy birthday to your husband Tony, hope you both have a lovely, chocolate-filled day! Xx

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  14. Ohhh! Coconut and chocolate! Perfect for a summer birthday and greedy couple that I really appreciate, yum! Many, so best wishes to Tony!

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  15. Happy birthday the cake sounds delish

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  16. Happy birthday to Tony. I'm loving the recipe, as I'm sure Jos, my husband, will, as he's a great chocolate fan as well! Many hugs xxx

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  17. Dear Jessica,

    ♫ Happy Birthday to your dear Tony!♪♫

    It is so sweet to read how much you adore you man.

    I saved the coconut bars recipe and will have to try it - hopefully some day soon. I just might have my daughter whip up a batch since she loves baking so much :)

    Have a wonderful birthday weekend!
    ♥Love and hugs,
    Hope

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  18. Happy Birthday, Tony! (Do you know how lucky you are?!)

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  19. Happy birthday to your wonderful hubby, Tony!

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  20. Oh wow, coconut and chocolate together is one of my all time favorite combos! These treats sound like a dream! Happy Birthday to Tony! I hope you guys have a wonderful celebration! :D

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  21. Happy birthday to Tony! Without his photography your blog would be a different place.
    And I'll have to try that recipe - chocolate and coconut are also favorites of my husband

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  22. Aw, happy birthday (for yesterday), Tony! How lucky he is to have some an amazing wife cooking up such awesome treats for him :D xx

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  23. I agree- coconut is amazing! These bars look absolutely scrumptious ;)
    The Artyologist

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  24. Dear Jessica, how lovely to get to know such a caring and wonderful person, at the age of 23 and now he is 36 - yes, time flies, but in this case, in a beautiful way and together! I loved the recipe, and I can eat coconut, though it is not really my thing, I admit; but I love Mars bars and yes, I am sure I will love this recipe! I am sure that Tony loved the recipe and the love you dedicated to him! Hope you have a very beautiful week! Hugs and regards!
    DenisesPlanet.com

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  25. Jessica give a big hug to the man behind the camera :) HB Tony.

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  26. And a warm "tillykke med fødselsdagen" from Denmark. Chocolate and coconut, what's not to like. Give him a big hug from me. We also had a lot of celebration this weekend, with son on Saturday and DH on Sunday. Have a lovely day, dear. :)

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    1. It's really awesome that your husband has a birthday in the same week as Tony. I hope that you guys had a marvelous celebration. Ours was oodles of fun and I'll be highlighting more about it in an upcoming outfit post here.

      Many thanks & joyful b-day month wishes to your husband,
      ♥ Jessica

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  27. I missed this - many happy returns to Tony, I hope his birthday was fun.

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  28. HUGE - absolutely huge - thanks to each of you, our dear online friends, for your awesomely lovely birthday wishes.

    Both Tony and I sincerely appreciate them and want you to know how much they helped to brighten his celebration.

    We had a terrific weekend and even managed to snag some outfit snaps on the 6th (as the sun was out for most of the day), which will be appearing here in the very near future.

    Thank you all again from the bottom of our hearts!

    ♥ Jessica & Tony

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  29. So sweet! (Both this post and the sentiments) <3 I hope Tony had a wonderful birthday and that you both had a wonderful day together celebrating!

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    1. Thank you very much, honey. He/we had a really lovely day - hard to believe that more than a week has already zoomed by since then. The end of summer is always extra speedy, isn't it?

      I'll be sharing what I wore for his big day here a little later in the month - it's quite a summery look, so sharing it before autumn rolls around is a must. :)

      Oodles of hugs & happy mid-August wishes,
      ♥ Jessica

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  30. Happy belated birthday Tony! I hope you had a fabulous day x

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    1. Thank you sweetly, dear Melanie. We had a terrific day. Sunshine (a rarity this summer), good food, great company - all the things a summertime birthday should have. :)

      Many hugs & happy weekend wishes,
      ♥ Jessica

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  31. I hope that Tony had a really fabulous birthday and that you found a lovely chocolatey treat for him!

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    1. He (we) had a fantastic day - complete with some rare sunshine. Hard to believe a couple of weekends have already whipped past since then. The tail end of summer is so often the quickest part of the season, isn't it?

      Big hugs & many sincere thanks for all of your terrific comments this week,
      ♥ Jessica

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  32. Glad to hear Tony had a good birthday. Hope the rest of your August is full of sunshine and more cake perhaps ;)

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    1. Thank you sweetly, my friend. I'm happy to say that August has been somewhat sunnier (Tony even had sunshine on his birthday). More cake, you say? Yes, pretty please! It's something I crave all season long (and I don't even really have much of a sweet tooth), thanks to both of our birthdays happening them. I'm looking forward to whipping up autumnal ones soon - pumpkin spice cake very much included.

      Many hugs & thanks for your great blog comments this week,
      ♥ Jessica

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