As the last of the tinsel is vacuumed out of the car[et, the Christmas lights flicked off once more, and we begin hunkering in for the long haul stretch that is winter sans looking forward to December, it can feel like summer is a million miles away.
Thankfully such isn't actually the case, but that knowledge scarcely makes the next few months any easier to bear. Even if only enjoys winter (as I generally do), its bleak weather, icy temps, and serious lack of daylight can be draining on the heartiest of us.
By far one of my favourite ways to help perk up this time of the year is with tropical inspired food, drinks, and even fashion!
Luckily many equator line fruits are at their peak right amount now, and in general, they're super easy to come by for those in most parts of the world.
Whether you're in the mood for a single South Seas themed dish or want to go all out and throw a tiki party to keep Old Man Winter at bay, January is an ideal time to look to the tropics for your recipe choices and today's vintage recipe for Golden Coconut Brownies are sure to have you humming a Don Ho tune in no time.
{Hailing from a 1952 ad that appeared Woman's Day magazine, this tasty, wonderfully easy to make recipe for coconut brownies is sure to help lift your spirits and satisfy your sweet tooth in the process all winter long. Vintage image source.}
As far as I can tell, Welch's chocolate bars haven't been made in ages, but fear not, any similar chocolate + coconut candy bar (such as Mounds or Bounty) can be used here. If such were not forthcoming for you, you could probably just use a nice milk chocolate bar and some sweetened shredded coconut easily enough as well.
These brownies offer up a scrumptious Polynesian inspired flavour that differs from most of the fare we've been consuming in recent weeks. They're refreshing, scrumptious, fairly easy on the pocketbook and dead simple to make. I've had a lot of luck making them in GF form, too, both from scratch and with mixes such as Glutino's Brownie mix.
If you wanted to gild the lily - err, brownie :) - here, you could easily top these scrumptious chocolate + coconut brownies with a sweet frosting of you choice. One that involved coconut, pineapple, orange, or maraschino cherries would both be wonderfully mid-century appropriate and also very tropical island approved. A nice, rich caramel or even strawberry (or raspberry) icing could be sublime here, too, and I can think of at least a few folks I know who would enjoy a coffee frosting on these brownies as well.
I swear, in January and February, I sport my tropic flower print clothes more than any other time of the year and also reach for recipes like this most frequently as well. Between the two of them and plenty of hot chocolate, one can do a pretty decent job of forgetting it's -30C outside - well, at least until you open the front door!
So why not bake up a batch of these great mid-century coconut chocolate brownies (which also work wonderfully for Valentine's Day next month) today and show winter who’s boss! :)
