Caramel Coconut Cashew Blondies

These nutty blondies are studded with creamy white chocolate and topped with a super simple homemade dulce de leche, toasted coconut, and crunchy cashews.

Does anyone else feel like they just need a vacation?

Maybe it’s the former teacher in me, but come June 1st, I have the hardest time motivating myself to do anything because it’s summertime, baby! This year, I feel that longing for rest at an exponential rate. We took a quick little anniversary trip to NYC at the beginning of the month and then I got sick when we got home. Because I was out of commission for a few weeks, playing catch up has just been the worst. I’ve been scrambling to finish all of my client work before deadlines and at the end of the day, I’m just wiped and I need a break.

I would love to hide away on a tropical beach with a book, tuning out the world entirely for a bit so that I can actually re-charge. Unfortunately for me, that’s not in the cards this summer so I may just be turning off my social media accounts and making these loaded tropical-esque blondies—I’ll take it.

caramel coconut cashew blondies

The idea for this recipe started as “hawaiian cookie bars” scribbled in my notebook. I was thinking white chocolate, macadamia nuts, maybe a little coconut—flavors that made me feel like I was on an island or at the very least, hanging out the Disney Polynesian Resort.

Trader Joe’s was fresh out of macadamia nuts when I was recipe testing and I needed something sticky to bind it all together, so we settled on cashews and dulce de leche.

Kind of like a clean-out-the-pantry cookie bar, these are simple and easy and a real crowd pleaser. We start with a brown sugar blondie layer, studded with chopped white chocolate. Then, homemade dulce de leche (so easy, I promise) is poured over the top, and the bars are finished with toasted coconut, toasted cashews, more white chocolate, and a little pink salt.

A quick chill really helps the dulce de leche firm up, but I honestly don’t mind sticky caramel dripping down my hands so skipping it is also an option. Make a batch, share with friends, and pretend like you’re on vacation.

Yield one 9x13 pan, about 24 squares

Author Anna Ramiz

Prep time

30 Min

Cook time

2 H & 30 M

Inactive time

4 Hour

Total time

7 Hour

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Caramel Coconut Cashew Blondies

( 0 reviews )

These nutty blondies are studded with creamy white chocolate and topped with a super simple homemade dulce de leche, toasted coconut, and crunchy cashews.

Ingredients

for the dulce de leche

• 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

for the white chocolate blondies

• 2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 3/4 cup (170 g) butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup (57 g) buttermilk, at room temperature
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup (300 g) brown sugar
• 8 oz white chocolate, chopped

for the topping

• 2.5 oz cashews, toasted
• 1 cup (2 oz) coconut, toasted
• 3 oz white chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 tsp pink salt

Instructions

1. Make the dulce de leche: Remove all paper wrapping from the can of sweetened condensed milk. Place in a medium saucepan and cover with water until the can is completely submerged. Bring to a simmer and simmer for 2 hours, adding more water as needed to keep the can submerged the entire time. Use tongs to remove the can from the water and place on a towel to cool completely, at least 4 hours, before opening. The dulce de leche can be made ahead and stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to one week.
2. Preheat the oven to 325° F and line a 9x13” baking dish with parchment paper.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla until smooth and homogenized. Add the brown sugar and whisk until to combine.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until all of the flour has been incorporated. Add the chopped white chocolate and stir again to disperse. Transfer to the prepared baking pan and smooth into an even layer.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the edges are deeply browned. Cool in the pan for about 30 minutes.
7. Spread the dulce de leche in an even layer over the surface of the blondies and then sprinkle with toasted cashews, toasted coconut, and chopped with chocolate. Transfer to the refrigerator and let chill for at least an hour.
8. Sprinkle with pink salt, slice, and serve

Notes

A quick note on making homemade dulce de leche: Be extra careful when removing the hot can from the simmering water. I like to use tongs to lift the can out of the water and then I let it cool down on a kitchen towel. Let the dulce de leche cool COMPLETELY or it will explode hot caramel when you open in. I would give a minimum of 4 hours, but recommend longer. Better safe than sorry!

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Banana Coconut Coffee Cake

A soft, sweet banana cake with a thick layer of tropical, toasted coconut streusel makes the perfect pair for your morning cup of coffee.

I’m back from Sicily and we’re jumping right back into our regularly scheduled baking content. I don’t know about you, but when I come home from a long trip, no matter how wonderful the food was, I crave comfort. I want to take a shower in my own bathroom, wear pajamas, eat a big bowl of pasta, and bake something cozy. I’m looking for low-effort comfort, and it often arrives in the form of cake. Simple cake to be exact.

I always have between 5-7 bananas shoved in my freezer and I’m reminded of their existence every time I open the freezer door and one or two fly out, barely missing my toes. While it’s nice to always ripe bananas on hand for when the baking urge strikes, it’s very difficult to think of anything to do with them besides make banana bread. For the last few months, my freezer banana count has been steadily increasing as I worked on recipes that would meet the banana baked good quota: simple, sweet, cozy. In walks this cake. It’s everything that you’re looking for in a banana cake: super moist, dense, and just sweet enough that it can double as both dessert and breakfast.

banana coconut coffee cake

This recipe is a riff of one of my very favorite recipes, my sweet potato and rye coffee cake. We subbed the sweet potatoes with bananas, of course. Got rid of the rye flour, and replaced the buttermilk with full-fat canned coconut milk. The streusel topping got a little facelift with the addition of toasted coconut.

It’s a simple creaming method cake and can be mixed up in just a few minutes. A quick tip: room temperature is really best for the ingredients in this case. Because of the high liquid content and the temperature characteristics of melted butter and coconut milk, this batter has a tendency to curdle easily. If that happens, just add in a bit of the dry ingredients to help bind everything together and it should smooth right out. Happy baking!

Yield one 9x13" cake

Author Anna Ramiz

Prep time

30 Min

Cook time

45 Min

Total time

1 H & 15 M

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Banana Coconut Coffee Cake

( 0 reviews )

A soft, sweet banana cake perfect for your morning cup of coffee topped with a thick layer of tropical coconut streusel.

IngredientsUSMetric

for the crumble

• 1/2 cup (65 g) all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (75 g) rolled oats
• 1/2 cup (100 g) brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, softened

for the cake

• 2 1/4 cup (290 g) all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 3/4 cup (170 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (100 g) brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 150 g mashed banana, from about 2 large bananas
• 3/4 cup full fat coconut milk
• 1/4 cup brewed espresso, cooled

for the glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup (55 g) full fat coconut milk
• 1/8 tsp vanilla powder, or sub a splash of vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

to make the crumble

1. Whisk together flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and coconut flakes in a medium sized bowl until combined.
2. Add the butter and work together using your fingers until butter is completely mixed in and no dry spots remain. Place in the refrigerator to chill while you make the cake.

to make the cake

1. Line a 9x13” baking dish with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cardamom. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine softened butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, making sure to scrape down the sides and ensure all of the butter chunks have been mixed in.
4. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the mashed banana and vanilla extract. Mix on medium-low speed for 1-2 minutes more, until everything is well-combined.
5. Combine coconut milk and espresso in a measuring cup.
6. With the mixer on low speed, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the coconut milk/espresso mixture. When the liquid has been mixed in, add another 1/3 of the dry ingredients, followed by the remaining 1/2 of liquid, and then the remaining 1/3 of dry ingredients. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then mix for one more minute. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a rubber spatular to gently fold the batter a few more times, ensuring that it is smooth and homogenous and everything is well-combined.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and use an offset spatula to smooth it into an even layer. Remove crumbs from the refrigerator and sprinkle it in a thick even layer over the top of the cake.
8. Bake for 40-45 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time, until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the the center of the cake. Let cool completely in the pan while you make the glaze.

to make the glaze

1. Combine ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until smooth, adding more powdered sugar or coconut milk to thicken or loosen the glaze until you reach your desired consistency.
2. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake before serving.

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Sweet Potato and Rye Coffee Cake

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Coquito Tiramisu

Do you know about Coquito? If you have never heard of it before, just sit back and get ready because it is the most delicious holiday beverage around. Coquito is a Puerto Rican Christmas drink made of creme de coco, coconut milk, and rum. It’s thick and creamy, boozy and tropical, and I’m always counting down until December when we can start drinking it all month long. Back when I was teaching, one of my teacher friends made the very best coquito and on the last day of school before Winter Break, she would bring a thermos of it and we would drink it after all of the kids had left, sitting on top of student desks with classroom Christmas party remnants strewn about. If you’re a teacher, you know this moment.

So for Day 10 of our 12 Days of Christmas Desserts, we made coquito tiramisu. Lady fingers are soaked in a coquito mixture of creme de coco, coconut milk, and rum and layered with a more-traditional mascarpone/saboyan cream and the whole thing is topped with toasted coconut. It’s fun and festive and very delicious.

Tiramisu in general is a fairly straightforward dessert, the cream filling being the only slightly tricky part. This one is made with a sabayon folded into a mascarpone whipped cream. Sabayon or zabaglione (in Italian) is a cooked custard made with egg yolks and sugar (and sometimes a sweet wine). Egg yolks and sugar are combined in a bowl over a double-boiler and whisked continually as they heat. When the eggs are warm to the touch and all of the sugar granules have dissolved, the mixture will be light in color and thickened. When used in different applications, like spooned over fruit, it has a more saucy consistency, but here we want it thick. When you lift your whisk out of the bowl, you should see a ribbon mark of custard that somewhat holds it’s shape. This then gets folded into the mascarpone whipped cream and it’s just luxurious, that’s all I can say.

Finally, in one last ditch effort to talk you into making this recipe for your Christmas celebration, I’ve discovered that tiramisu might be the perfect Christmas dinner dessert. It holds so well and is better 2-3 days after making it, which means that you can whip this up tomorrow and then not think about dessert again until you serve it on Christmas Day! Does it get any better than that?

Yield

makes one 9x13 baking dish

Author

Anna Ramiz

Prep time

20 Min

Cook time

15 Min

Inactive time

6 Hour

Total time

6 H & 35 M

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Coquito Tiramisu

A twist on the classic Tiramisu inspired by Coquito, a Puerto-Rican holiday drink. Boozy and tropical, spiked with coconut and rum.

Ingredients US Metric

• 4 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup (78 g) sweetened condensed milk
• 3/4 cup (170 g) heavy cream
• 1 cup (8 oz) mascarpone cheese
• 2 tsp vanilla extract, divided
• 1 15-oz can Creme de Coco
• 1/4 cup dark or spiced rum
• 1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk
• 2 7-oz packages lady finger cookies
• 1/4 cup toasted coconut, for topping
• Ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Combine egg yolks, sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla extract in a heat-proof bowl and set over a pot of simmering water. Cook, whisking regularly, until the mixture is thickened and pale, warm to the touch, and sugar granules have dissolved.
2. Meanwhile, combine heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Add the mascarpone cheese and whip again until completely combined and mixture is light and smooth.
3. Remove the egg yolks from the double boiler and gently fold whipped mascarpone mixture into the egg mixture, until no streaks remain. Set aside.
4. In a large glass measuring using an immersion blender, or in a high-speed blender, combine creme de coco, coconut milk, rum and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Blend until smooth and then transfer to a shallow bowl.
5. Dip each lady finger in the coconut milk mixture, coating completely, and lay them in an even layer in the bottom of your dish. Drizzle about a 1/4 cup of liquid over the lady finger layer and then spread 1/2 of the mascarpone mixture in an even layer on top. Repeat this process with one more layer of lady fingers and the remaining mascarpone cream.
6. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight. When you are ready to serve, sprinkle the top with toasted coconut and dust with a bit of ground cinnamon.

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